http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 8:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
Make it MS. Please.
If you don't make it locked down too much, I'll buy it.]]>Apr 11th 2010 8:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
If an employee accidentally loses one of these pre-production models, it will be one hell of a treasure hunt!]]>Apr 11th 2010 9:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
Video yourself being irresistibly titillating and show it to everyone but don't even hint at whether or not you'll ever actually put out. ]]>Apr 11th 2010 9:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
Damn this would be sick for taking notes in business meetings.. The smartphone notepad combo sucks but its the best option for now unless you have a real tablet pc... ]]>Apr 11th 2010 9:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
Walk into you local Office Max. Make a right past the registers. Then a left. You see those two aisle? Yes, those, with the various clipboards, stick pads/notes, highlighters, paper clips etc.....Thats what it will be replacing if this thing is released. my .02 cents.]]>Apr 11th 2010 9:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
I say GO MICROSOFT! Show us what you've got!]]>Apr 11th 2010 9:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
I find it odd this site isn't calling it a total failure for using a stylus like it has for so many other devices]]>Apr 11th 2010 10:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 10:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/if you learn to type properly (ie with all 5 fingers), there's no need for anything other than a laptop to take notes. AND you still have access to a whole pc.
Don't get me wrong, it's pretty, but, like the ipad, it's not for production. ]]>Apr 11th 2010 10:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
Steve Jobs on Concepts;

"You know how you see a show car, and it's really cool, and then four years later you see the production car, and it sucks? And you go, What happened? They had it! They had it in the palm of their hands! They grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory!
"What happened was, the designers came up with this really great idea. Then they take it to the engineers, and the engineers go, 'Nah, we can't do that. That's impossible.' And so it gets a lot worse. Then they take it to the manufacturing people, and they go, 'We can't build that!' And it gets a lot worse."

]]>Apr 11th 2010 10:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
Handwriting is very good to remember things and idea's, especially when you are working on creative tasks. I am a consultant and I use handwritten notes a lot. I can draw arrows in all directions, connect text passages and create the layout I want without much hassle. ]]>Apr 11th 2010 10:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 11:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 11:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 11:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
We've seen it over and over.... MS tech WILL BE so cool..... 5 years later we get half what was promised. 3 years later we get the product we should have got in the first place.... at this point 5 whole years late.

Courier is nice... I'm waiting to order my brushed aluminum Apple version with "DON'T PANIC" on the front cover. Courier proves Microsoft needs to be smaller, and somebody needs to step up with Linux/BeOS/etc to carve out a nice 20% share of new devices. Nokia might do it... their recent netbook was lacking in specs, but a work of art worthy of sitting in an Apple store.

The only way Microsoft can produce a product like Courier is to completely screw their exiting Zune/Win mobile 7 client and OEM base.... again. Microsoft created a market of people at every level scrabbeling for leftovers. Trouble is, nobody can take moves too far "out of line" without Microsoft doing it themselves or giving their version to everybody for free. As you can see from Xbox 360 Microsoft isn't keen on "owning" anymore hardware if they don't have to.... end-to-end support (with no fingers to point) is not something they have experience at.

I see this as an IBM/Amtel case. Microsoft offers something a little bit better than Apple... real soon now. Courier is DEAD...it's vapor, misdirection. iPad is SHIPPING NOW with Apps ready to download and it's only going to get better. I could see somebody really clever building a case for iPad that holds TWO and a custom app to sync data between them so they act like one Courier. 75% of the parts are there now... you'd probably have to jailbreak to get required performance around the "Apple Approved API" restrictions. ]]>Apr 12th 2010 12:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 12th 2010 1:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 12th 2010 1:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Does anybody know how well digital pens work? From what I've read they'd actually do a pretty good job. I do agree though, this would quite possibly be the BEST note taking device ever.]]>Apr 12th 2010 3:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://j.mp/micrsoft-courier-tablet-experience]]>Apr 12th 2010 5:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
Anyway, as for Courier I still think they should stick a couple of Pixel Qi screens on... just waiting for SOMEONE to produce ANYTHING with these screens!]]>Apr 12th 2010 5:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/I'm sure Steve blew it with that statement. The Courier would blow the iPad away with it's usefulness.

I'm a bit of an Apple fanboy, but I would buy a courier over an iPad anyday.]]>Apr 12th 2010 5:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
I think, also, that people here don't seem to understand what Jobs is saying about stylus'. Jobs does say things in a rather over the top and abrasive way, but I believe what he means is that if you give people a stylus, then developers are going to use it. More correctly, they are going to fall back on it - instead of coming up with a way to deal with the only input being a finger, they design for the accuracy of a stylus, because that's the path of least resistance. End result is an inconsistent UI with which you *have* to use a stylus.

Now, in fact you can get a stylus (and not a sausage :) for the iPhone and iPad, but since it is not officially part of the product, developers can't rely on it being there. They could write programs that expect a stylus, but it's better if they come up with a way to deal with the only input device being a finger or thumb (or fingers/thumbs).

I am not a designer, but even I can envision one simple way to make drawing more accurate, in fact very accurate, with finger input. You would utilize multitouch and instead of using one finger, you'd use two - one on each hand. One finger acts as the pointer and positions the cursor which appears slightly above your finger. The other finger presses a button (virtual) that causes it to draw. So it's like using a two-handed mouse, though the draw button would be at the side and positioned so you could press it with your thumb.

I'm not saying that that is the best solution, but it is one solution, from little old me, and it's even a type of input that we are use to - a mouse-like interface.]]>Apr 12th 2010 9:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 15th 2010 11:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 8:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
Sigh. What an idiot response. ]]>Apr 11th 2010 8:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
Quoting another commenter username is escaping me, "Release the Down ranken!"]]>Apr 11th 2010 8:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 9:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 8:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
I'm thinking 64 gb, b/g wifi, and a awesome titanium cover.]]>Apr 11th 2010 9:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
I don't know about that price range.. Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE that price but $300 for a sexy double panel tablet? Any thoughts/predictions on price guys?]]>Apr 11th 2010 9:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 9:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
I will buy this WHEN it comes out. This thing is too good to put in the development hell. Heck, I could see this one device win over the iPad and all the other electronic sanitary-sounding devices ]]>Apr 11th 2010 9:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Courier looks like two things...
#1.) a GREAT concept.
#2.) a HORRIBLE learning curve.

Courier's biggest challenge will be establishing, and then building on an interface paradigm that people "get" on a large scale. --If however, this is a niche product, it mostly doesn't matter... if Microsoft wants broad adoption of its technologies, the Courier we've seen so far will, by basic necessity, be watered down long before it reaches us (like the changes made to Windows Longhorn since its first concept videos hit the web). Things like the "attach to spine" and "spiral menu" (from the Mix and Match video) and even some of the other ideas are COOL to think about, but make ABSOLUTELY NO intuitive sense. Basically, someone would have to TELL you... or TRAIN you to quite "get" how things work in concert.

When it comes to UI, different users encounter things differently. For some people, they will immediately take to the interface, and notice all the queues that hold it together. For others, it will be something "other people" get. Yet another layer of "tech" that keeps peolpe from understanding how to do what they want to so quickly (unless you're a "power" user).

ALL of that said... One of the prime things that will keep Courier off the market for now, is PRICE. Some people have suggested their "dream price" of $299 or $399. Where things are in the market RIGHT NOW? Not even close... try $600-$900. It's interesting that the use of a pen suggests (though doesn't require) a resistive touchscreen technology (and not capacitive). The iPad has been upshippable for YEARS because the pricing didn't make sense or techology wasn't quite ready.

After announcing its iPhone clone in 2007, after Apple's keynote, Mezui then proceeded to take until 2009 to actually SHIP said iPhone clone (while we were hammered with design mockups and conceptual renderings for month after month after month. This is where the HP Slate and especially the Courier is. They'd love to ship it TOMORROW... but once you get the first version of your product set-up, you can have someone try it out... and then go back to the drawing board if it doesn't work.

Let's review... remember this announcement:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/22/microsoft-randd-shows-off-multi-touch-laptop/
Microsoft released this video, wherein Steve Hodges, manager of their "sensors and devices" group, said that Microsoft (June 2007) was "just starting" to explore interfaces for multitouch metaphors in Windows Vista (the iPhone was JUST shipping at that time). A month earlier at All Things Digital, Microsoft announced more "concept" videos of its "Surface" product, expected to be deployed starting at $10,000 to select vendors in late 2007 or 2008. They eventually launched in April 2008. Today, the surface costs $12,500... $15,000 for developers.

When Apple announced its "Magic Mouse", Microsoft released "concept" prototypes for "multitouch mice" it would never ship.

Today, Microsoft is having fantasies about the Courier and Mezui is at it again with fantasies about the "mBook" (with 12 hour battery life!) When can we ask these companies to start jerking people around? I mean... WePad? --We finally got a JooJoo, but Adobe doesn't even want to acknowledge any connection, because the product is so poorly put together.

Is this the type of dynamic people want?]]>Apr 11th 2010 10:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
The 3-400 dollar range is wishing thinking, I know. I just wanted to give MS and idea of what to charge ;)]]>Apr 11th 2010 11:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 11:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
This thing is so ridiculously cool. But two touch screens are going to need some seriously high tech (efficiently low weight) batteries. I think the technology needed to make this thing run two 7"ish color capacitiive screens is going to drive the price way up. I'd say if the product shipped just like this... at least 900$]]>Apr 12th 2010 1:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/1. while the Courier would be a device in its own niche, it will still compete (to some extent)
a). on the higher end with the faster Tablet PCs - I see the Courier as being quite heavy given the two screen and the battery needed to support them and the heavy CPU usage (for productivity). The only things the Courier will have against those tablets would be better handling and specialized OS. So Microsoft needs to work hard on those.
b). on the lower end with media devices like the iPad (again to some extent), which provide a great media experience and even some simple productivity and are probably cheaper.
How much space there is between a) and b) we have yet to see.

2. Price - two screens, CPU suited for productivity, battery to handle all this, development of a mobile OS, porting productivity apps; if produced today this device will cost twice the iPad.

Basically, two things: a very good mobile OS and a decent price - cheaper than a Tablet PC. If Microsoft can do this, well, it would be awesome.]]>Apr 12th 2010 2:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
A comment about the learning curve..

My mom still can't use a computer.. It's a horrible experience for her.
I myself don't know about all of the features and shortcuts on my mac.
Only after watching tutorial videos have i felt like, HEY i can do this!

When people by the courier, which unlike an iPad will be an INVESTMENT, they will push themselves to learning about it.

People who don't push themselves will not have enough money to buy the Courrier anyway.

My point is, learning curve point is irrelevant to be mentioned as a drawback.]]>Apr 12th 2010 8:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/No kidding. I'm game! PLEASE let it turn out like the concepts. There is a funny article at ohwhocares about our undying love of it, no matter how horribly wrong it may end up.]]>Apr 13th 2010 8:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 8:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 8:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 8:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/and they can do way better than courier too;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQdGvfV4WnU]]>Apr 11th 2010 9:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Courier is so single purpose, I can't see it doing much. It is just an electronic diary. Unless it gets some more functions than what we have seen it is worthless to 90% of the public.]]>Apr 11th 2010 9:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 9:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
LOL, nice one. ]]>Apr 11th 2010 9:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
Couldn't it also be your everything device? With everything it seems they are trying to do with it, it seems it could be amazing for internet and music. Tie it into the marketplace and it could do everything the iPad could do.]]>Apr 11th 2010 9:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/Apr 11th 2010 10:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/11/entelligence-what-can-courier-teach-the-market/
Like someone said above. Your comment is simple but accurate. ]]>Apr 11th 2010 10:56PM