“Apple will be launching its much heralded slate at an event in San Francisco Jan. 27, as All Things Digital has previously reported,” Swisher reports. “The Apple device is garnering the expected flood of hype, of course. So don’t expect Ballmer to pointlessly go against the tide of this particular tsunami, thereby painting its slate efforts as also-ran.
Swisher reports, “While Ballmer might talk about a range of products related to Microsoft, and there will be multiform hardware shown, including multitouch, tablet-type devices, there will be no grand showing of the one called the Courier, which Microsoft is reportedly working on with HP.”
Full article here.
Gizmodo’s Brian Lam tweets, “Just so you know, no courier today at the CES keynote. My sources said it was far off.”
MacDailyNews Take: So much for the upstaging.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
Well, who needs the iPhone, anyway?
AT&T;to have first Dell Android phone exclusively
Dell will launch an Android smartphone later this year, and AT&T;will carry it exclusively, officials of both companies announced today at the 2010 AT&T;Developer Summit.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9143039/Complete_coverage_CES_2010
Hahhahahahahahahaaa
So this would be the tablet product that Apple hasn’t announced at an event that Apple hasn’t announced using components that Apple hasn’t specified.
Of course Courier is far off. It can’t be announced until after Apple’s unannounced product is announced so that Microsoft can figure out the feature set for the Courier.
I liked the Courier vaporideo (http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet ). The device seemed all about input and managing/moving personal data. It was interesting and very Microsoft in its approach. However, it will never be made since MSFT does not have the software discipline necessary to pull it off. If you look at the UI for courier–it seems needlessly complex, but that’s because it is trying to perform a multitude of functions with a multitude of input methods. Gesture, hand writing, multitouch, unittouch, keyboard input. one hand two hands. Saving copying moving creating data.
Microsoft is never satisfied with a simple grid. They always seem to be a bit nervous when they get out on an edge somewhere and jump around to quickly cover every base. Apple is far more disciplined and far more willing to edit. This is irritating to many people but I believe this is what brings the art into their design. Apple sculpts their products by removing everything that isn’tsuppposed to be there. Microsoft just keeps adding things until they run out of time. It shows in just about everything they do.
This reminds me of the Soviets’ desperate, last-ditch attempt to steal thunder from the Americans immediately before the first successful landing on the moon by Apollo 11 in 1969. The mission was a failure both scientifically and symbolically.*
In this case, Steve Ballmer knows that Microsoft is desperately behind the curve on mobile computing. Microsoft’s own moles probably have details on the progress of Apple’s work on a practical tablet computer. In their desperation, Microsoft had J. Allard, the man who brought you the Zune, cook up a Flash video showing a far-off dream tablet, the Courier. It was enough to pwn Brian Lam and Gizmodo into thinking it actually existed. Perhaps on paper as a concept, but certainly not in the flesh.
What Steve will trumpet tonight will be some warmed-over rehashes of their previous, terrible tablet PCs. Then, he’ll probably trot out the Lenovo tablet PC that has a detachable tablet than runs a very lightweight (lame) Lenovo-created OS. It is very similar to the story below from Wikipedia about the Soviet’s last-ditch attempt to save face knowing that they were not going to be the first nation to land on the moon. Read the story below to complete the metaphor.
In short: Don’t be too concerned about what Microsoft trots out tonight. It’s a desperate, freeze-the-market, smoke-and-mirrors trick. That used to work in the 80s and 90s, but not today. Apple would not announce any new category product unless Steve Jobs was absolutely convinced that it was ready for launch, and that whatever Apple could announce would render everything else obsolete. I believe that he and Apple will do just that.
*From Wikipedia: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_15)
“Luna 15, also designed to return soil samples from the lunar surface, holds the significance of undergoing its mission at the same time as the historic Apollo 11 mission. Arguably a last-ditch attempt to steal thunder from the potential American success, it would have returned lunar samples to Earth before the Apollo astronauts could do so. However, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were already on the lunar surface when Luna 15 began its descent, and the spacecraft crashed into a mountain minutes later.The mission was a failure both scientifically and symbolically.”
That’s exactly what will happen tonight. Just skip reading Gizmodo and Engadget, and anything written tomorrow by Michael Arrington, Henry Blodgett, C|Net, John Dvorak et al. It will be total crap.
Handsome Smitty
“I actually liked the Courier video. I write a lot and would be happy to have something as interactive as the thing seems. Beats lugging my laptop around to jot down inspiration or do more serious work on projects.
My iPhone Notes is a poor tool for such stuff. Good for pecking simple ideas, titles, but tedious to write, say a whole page of dialogue or observation.
The only problem, syncing capability with my Macbook….
The so-called iSlate (still like Tabula Rasa) will be a pain to lug around, I suspect.”
Brilliant! Comment that you like something that does not, and probably will not, exist. Then comment that that you don’t like something that has not been released.
Absolutely brilliant!
“The unadulterated voice of reason – Absolutely brilliant!”
Yeah, get that a lot.
ZuneTang- get some therapy. I don’t care of you’re anti- Apple or anti-Microsoft- you’re hostile and obnoxious. Unlike some, I don’t find you amusing at all, nor can I claim to. I’m tired of the negativity, for it seems to be contagious. If you find something debatable, make your point in a courteous, logical manner. Then again, not easy to do when one is irrational to begin with.
Hey MDN,
I know this is off-topic, but you’re missing the opportunity to rail on another long-time incompetent CEO, Chris Gorog, of Napster. He was just let go by Best Buy (who bought Napster).
So get with it and get an article out already.
Brawndo has electrolytes!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”tongue rolleye” style=”border:0;” />
@Ray
Dueling? You mean Apple analysts and bloggers vs. the M$ video depicting a dual touchscreen tablet? Because Apple never announced a tablet.
Think we can stop misusing “vaporware” ?
Courier is nothing more than a conceptualized device. Concepts are developed to show possibilities, not actual products. This Courier seems like a device for replacing personal organizers of yester-year with an interactive digital equivalent.
This is neither a slate or tablet computer. And as far as Gizmodo reporting that it was in its finally stages of development, I would’ve only believed that if they had shown someone actually using one, not the mockup that was given.
oh… and as far as vaporware…
Vaporware is an ANNOUNCED product that never materializes.
Neither the AppleTablet or the Courier are vaporware. One is a rumor, the other a concept.
@Handsome Smitty
“Multitouch.”
“We will protect our patents.”
Apparently not…
Vaporous emissions are not patent violations. Actual products may be. So unless MS actual ships something (or their lawyers let them ship), Apple can’t do anything – nor would they want to.
Review the Psystar case for an example of how it all plays.
And in the category “news from CES”:
6 p.m.: Hilton Center is filled up. On stage, naturally, are a whole mess of PCs ranging from the teeny to the large. Still a bit early–half an hour until Ballmer…
6:30 p.m.: Lights just went dark here.
6:35 p.m.: Lights down, music still playing. No one on stage, though. ” We are having a small power problem. Please remain in your seats.” (And here I thought they were just being green.)
6:37 p.m.: We’re not totally without power, but lights are intermittent and stage is totally dark. Bad music must be running on generator.
6:40 p.m.: Power back on stage. Keynote now set to start in 5 minutes, we’re told. Well, it wouldn’t be a Microsoft keynote without glitches, as a colleague pointed out.
6:42 p.m.: Sprint’s network appears to be down inside the keynote hall, frustrating many a would-be liveblogger. We’re on to plan B: my T-Mobile BlackBerry. So don’t expect too many long quotes, but I can snark pretty fast.
6:50 p.m.: Keynote hasn’t started, but on-stage video now working. Stage crew appears to be checking each of the assembled PCs that Ballmer to demo. If this were Apple, at least two dozen people would be funemployed. I wonder how Ballmer’s reacting backstage.
You really feel the need to change the definition of vaporware so the Microsoft Courier doesn’t count as it? Really?
Here is a link to Ballmer live at the CES.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10426723-56.html
Good gawd, what a lame demo.
Ballmer spent most of the time showing that HP slate running a Kindle application. Then he fumbled around trying to start up a video clip. All this while positioning that slate perfectly to highlight all the smudges and fingerprints.
MS just lowered the bar for Jobs by several notches…
Ballmer’s presentation at CES was pathetic. Seriously, I watched it/read it since I wanted to see if they would release the “innovative/radical” Courier. As all of you already know, it was not released. Haha…seriously MS, stop trying to sound important!
We’ll see how CRAPPLE tablet PC differ from a Windows based. I guess the people are CRAPPLE have to take so long to develop and copy a tablet PC which has been on the market for many years while Microsoft just showed how it’s done running on Windows 7 instead of a stripped down iPhone OS which I assume MACTARDS will look forward to LOL.
http://www.bing.com When it comes to decisions that matter, Bing & Decide