MacDailyNews Take: Hey, where’s Jason? 
Johnson continues, “We’re told that on Wednesday, Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer Microsoft execs informed the internal team that had been working on the tablet device that the project would no longer be supported. We contacted Microsoft, who confirmed that Courier will not go into production. Microsoft Corporate VP of Communications Frank Shaw told us: At any given time, we’re looking at new ideas, investigating, testing, incubating them. It’s in our DNA to develop new form factors and natural user interfaces to foster productivity and creativity. The Courier project is an example of this type of effort. It will be evaluated for use in future offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.“
Johnson laments, “It is a pity. Courier was one of the most innovative concepts out of Redmond in quite some time.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Joel, buddy, the thing never existed. Repeat after us: “It… was… vaporware.” Sheesh.
Microsoft’s concocted imagery failed to freeze the market, so the “project” is now “cancelled.”
Here’s what we wrote when “Courier” first condensed onto Gizmodo back in September:
What’s astonishing about it? That it looks to be 1990’s thick, that it’s stuck running some version of Windows, that it’s vaporous computer graphics with a cartoon demo, or all three? It’s not a “booklet,” it’s a “vaporlet.” So, why is this “astounding” CG imagery being emitted right now? Are Microsoft worried that a real device is coming soon from another company? And, careful, Gizmodo: Besides having been PlayedForSure, Multi-Touch™ is a trademark of Apple Inc. – MacDailyNews Take, September 23, 2009
72 Comments
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Apple increases MacBook Neo orders due to strong demand and sell-out
Apple’s newly launched MacBook Neo, positioned as the company’s most affordable notebook ever with a starting price of $599, has…
Perplexity AI rolls out ‘Personal Computer for Mac,’ delivering advanced AI orchestration
In a significant step toward more integrated AI assistance, Perplexity AI announced today the rollout of Personal Computer for Mac…
Apple and Google’s app stores promote ‘nudify’ apps despite rules banning them, new investigation finds
Apple and Google’s app stores are promoting “nudify” apps despite rules banning them, a new investigation by the Tech Transparency Project…
Liquidmetal could be Apple’s secret weapon for the foldable iPhone
Apple appears ready to unleash Liquidmetal in one of the most demanding roles imaginable: the hinge of its first foldable iPhone…
U.S. Android users are nearly four times more likely to switch than iPhone users
In the ever-competitive world of smartphones, loyalty speaks volumes about which platform truly wins hearts (and wallets). According to the…
Vaporlet!!! That’s priceless. You guys should trademark that one!
Microsoft needs to wake up and realize the world doesn’t rotate around them any more, that they can’t kill other products by vaporware announcements.
Time to compete on a level playing field. I rather liked the folding screen idea….
“It’s in our DNA to develop new form factors and natural user interfaces to foster productivity and creativity. “
Bwaaaaaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha! I almost spit my coffee all over my monitor!
This is such a slow process, Watching Apple take the mp3 market crushing sony, crushing palm, nokia, motorola, mobile windows, rimm and every other IPhone wannabe, nobody will compete with IPad for over a year. I say to all these companies like dell and the rest just go ahead and give all your money to Apple now because they are going to take it eventually and put all of you out of business. Just Do It! Then Apple’s market cap will be over 1 Trillion DOLLARS.
one of the most innovative concepts out of Redmond in quite some time
That’s a wide open field.
Nah, they’ll just replace it with new courier.
iPad = Courier Killer.
next victim: the Slate.
Just in case you were all wondering about the Jizzmodo article:
http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet
Personally, I LOVE the line:
“Courier is a real device, and we’ve heard that it’s in the “late prototype” stage of development.”
I guess they meant the other meaning of the word “late”.
Here’s what I thought back when that video first appeared in September: “Ha! There’s no way Microsoft is going to build such a dual screen tablet with a complex hinging mechanism, etc etc, for under $1500. That’s vaporware right from the start.” The amazing thing is that the tech media bought into it hook, line, and sinker and actually believed the thing was feasible. It’s hard to fathom how gullible these journalists can be sometimes.
“Courier was one of the most innovative concepts out of Redmond in quite some time.”
Well how hard it that really.
If you want a real laugh, read the Jizzmodo comments on the article.
People actually fell for the MS vaporware trick.
The Wizard of Oz is not dead, he lives in Redmond, Washington!
This is just more evidence that M$ can no longer push their “but look at what *we’re* coming out with next year” tripe to stifle competition. More and more people are realizing the emperor’s wardrobe is a tad, um, breezy.
“we’re looking at new ideas, investigating, testing, incubating them. It’s in our DNA to develop new form factors and natural user interfaces to foster productivity and creativity. The Courier project is an example of this type of effort. It will be evaluated for use in future offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.””
In other words, Couldn’t get it all to work right!
Too funny. Windows 7 must be really great on tablets……. Not
Hey Could it be that “Microsoft” Used HP to buy “Palm” Knowing that it would have gotten lots of Scrutiny from the feds ?
Remember HP & Microsoft Go Wayyyyyyyyy Back.
(Just something to think About)
Great comments from despairing PC fanboy scumbellies after the article..
“What a cryin’ shame. MS looked as if it had finally gotten its act together–Windows 7 is quite nice, and the Courier promised to be groundbreaking. Instead they give us the Kin and run away from innovation.”
“Joel, buddy, the thing never existed. Repeat after us: “It… was… vaporware.” Sheesh.”
Sure. But it was still the best thing they had come up with in their 30 years.
@Mr Reee
“The concocted imagery failed to freeze the market, so the “project” is now “cancelled.”
That’s Microsoft inNOvation in a nutshell. It may have worked great in the 1980s, but this ain’t the 80s.
Back to the drawing board.”
Yes, so 80’s. What I think it is, is that MS still haven’t really gotten the hang of this internet thing yet. I have been a Mac user since ’84, but I actually missed Apple’s ’87 concept video for the Knowledge Navigator. So, I maybe saw the video once last year, and then it happens to pop up again this week as part of a Siri presentation I found through Daring Fireball I think.
So here’s MS, they see probably saw it last year like me… except MS thinks Apple made it last year. Then they say, hey, we can make a video like that, too, and use our cool music.
I think the penny just dropped for MS this week. Maybe they watched the Siri presentation all the way through and heard the founder talking about how Apple has pretty much already delivered on a lot of their 1987 vision with the iPhone.
Then MS realized that actual work was involved in the intervening 23 years. Then they debated whether to announce a release date 1033, or just go ahead and cancel it now.
Ups, I did it again.
Remember Cairo? Longhorn?
In 1996: Bill Gates says Cairo is a “vision,” not a product, leading many to believe the project is running into a roadblock. Gates tells Computerworld: “Cairo is a futuristic system. It’s something we’re working on.”
(Sidebar of this CNet article)
A good reading in MS Vaporware, from Daniel Eran Dilger: 1990-1995: Microsoft’s Yellow Road to Cairo
Vaporware only to stay with Windows.
And then, they call us “stupid fanboys” because we stick on Apple, a company that DELIVERS
It was a good decision had invested on that apples company, long long time ago.
My mama used to say “Stupid is as stupid does” but in this case, they don´t even DO a thing, only talked about a cloud of ideas. Much more stupid.
I can say to them: “Shit happens, but for you, all the time”.
Of course it existed, it existed to fool naive pc weenies that Microsoft was an innovative company that had an answer to the iPad and to try to drive interest away from a real product to an proposed imaginary one. Yes as a concept it definitely existed, of course as it was soon expected by real people to exist as a reality its usefulness had come to an end and its existence expunged from history other than its greatest most innovative imaginary features apparently appearing in other PC products, be they imagined or otherwise. But have no fear PC lovers your beloved leader has news for you, for there will of course be new and even better imaginary devices to replace it so don’t shed a tear, Courier is dead, long live Courier 2 (as soon as we have imagined its sensational new abilities), imagine how joyous it will be to talk of it in the PC forums congratulate our wonderfully creative imagineers, drool over its ever changing smoke and mirrors and rejoice in how much better it is than a real product with all the limitations that reality forces upon it.
Wow, what a shock. Considering that in MS’s intentionally “leaked” Courier video, the OS, hardware, and even the person’s HANDS were entirely computer-generated, anyone with two working brain cells should have been able to see that this was nothing more than a smoke-and-mirrors attempt to freeze the market. I bet there never even was a Courier project at all. It’s clear that Microsoft doesn’t have the in-house design talent (hardware OR software) to pull off anything approaching a competitor to Apple’s iPad.
To the people wondering what the heck that MS VP is talking about when he says that innovation is in Microsoft’s DNA, it’s what Steve Jobs said about Apple during his latest on-stage presentation. So of course Microsoft is now saying it too.
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde to lose one tablet may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two in one day looks like carelessness.
To read all the whining and wailing in the article comments from the M$ bots, it almost makes me feel sorry for them–NOT!
Go Apple!!
HP and Microsoft both canceled their Windows 7 tablets within 24 hours of each other. Maybe Windows 7 isn’t very good?