Microsoft confirms, kills Courier in one fell swoop

Well this is depressing. Word has just gone fluttering out of Redmond that work on the Courier project -- a heretofore rumored dual-screen tablet which rightfully set the tech world ablaze -- has been spun down by the company. Here's the official line from Frank Shaw, Microsoft's VP of corporate communications:

At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated. It's in Microsoft's DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity. The "Courier" project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.

All very sad, of course. So how did we get here? And was this thing ever really real to begin with? After all, it's hard to kill something that never lived. Well here's the deal, according to a source familiar with the situation: the Courier did indeed start life as a potential new product category for the company, one which was being incubated internally with very real plans for a marketable device. It seems, however, that things just didn't manage to take shape, and word was handed down very recently that the incubation period had reached its conclusion -- sans product -- and resources would be directed elsewhere. Now, that doesn't mean that we won't see some of this technology turn up in other products which Microsoft has in the pipeline (the company does keep quite a few balls in the air), but it does mean that those rendered videos of the Courier in action will remain, unfortunately, renders. As far as the Engadget team is concerned, there isn't a dry eye in the house right now -- but the Courier will always remain in our hearts as one of the finest unicorns that ever unicorned across our screens.

[Skylar Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:56PM]

New slogan for Microsoft: Imaginary Innovation.

[zangetsu2 Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:57PM]

NOOOOOOOooooo! Ah, I wouldn't have gotten one anyway. And for those of you cursing Microsoft, it's better that it didn't come out at all than to come out crippled like some sort of second iPad.

The main thing is, the idea is out there. Nothing's stopping any gadget company from putting a capacitive touch MID with a resistive touch MID and designing an operating system that works like the video.

[djd808 Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:57PM]

I just came back from lunch, its a beautiful(ish) day here in San Fran, feeling like a million bucks and now I feel like I just got kicked in the head and robbed.

Dream, destroyed.

[DTJ Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:57PM]

One thing about Apple - they actually release cool shit.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:00PM]

@DTJ
Great artists ship.

[Quikboy Posted Apr 30th 2010 1:17AM]

@DTJ : Yes, they do generally promise and they do generally deliver, though it's not always 'cool' every time. At the same time, Microsoft does release 'cool' stuff too (like Zune HD) though not all the time either.

Courier is just one of those that didn't make it out the door :(

[FADA Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:57PM]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[wako Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:57PM]

the ONE thing that couldve actually foiled Steve jobs plans of a massive tablet takeover, microsoft decided to kill. IDIOTS!

[Funderful Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:58PM]

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no ...

[recharged95 Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:58PM]

MS execs: "If you're late to the game, you blew it. And we did."

[Blocparty Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:59PM]

The courier will be an iPad killer, that pad doesn't even have a chance, you will see, i will be taking pictures for my interior design you will see... RIP. Now whats next? :)

[eggimage Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:59PM]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


i dont think anyone will ever notice my comment here anyways

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:59PM]

Just because there was a lot of buzz doesn't mean it would have been a commercial success. The JooJoo had buzz. You got downranked for saying anyhing bad about it, yet when it came to the crunch, they had less than 100 customers.

Microsoft has to make these decisions and given a medium-poor record in consumer electronics they probably thought it best to pour everything into Windows Phone 7 and then scale the Metro style UI up to bigger form factors in the future.

[thanhpluv Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:59PM]

I see this coming lol

[smakus Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:59PM]

God damn you, fucking Microsoft.

Get some fucking executives who actually have a finger on the pulse of your biggest fans.

[DTJ Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:01PM]

@smakus

Microsoft fans: not enough in number to make a product commercially viable.

Big Microsoft fans: too busy riding their unicorns around the gumdrop castle in fairy tale land.

[mandarin Posted Apr 29th 2010 4:59PM]

well this sucks

[binaryblend Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:00PM]

Incredibly disappointing! I was looking forward to the day when I could actually say “In your face” to the Apple fanboys. Wake up Microsoft!

[bradleigh Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:00PM]

I have been thinking about how I'm going to use that thing for weeks now. Back to the drawing board.

[dajimmers Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:00PM]

I really am not an Apple fanboy (yet, anyway), but this doesn't bode well for MS to get into the novel tablet market strong and early. Yes, I know they have the majority of current tablets (my current PC is one of them, and I love OneNote), but I mean the what-the-iPad-might-become market. The opportunities for novel input, creation, and organization could have been great, bit I fear they will arrive too late (if at all) from MS now.

[blueskyv201 Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:00PM]

This is the first time in my memory when tech news made me genuinely sad.

[finding remo21 Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:00PM]

Well there goes the best alternative to the iPad. Now who do we root for?

[Michael Scrip Posted Apr 30th 2010 1:14AM]

@finding remo21

You can always root for the HP Slate. It runs full Windows... which is what everyone wants, right?

But wait! Everyone is now clamoring for Android tablets and WebOS tablets....

So which is it?

[sweet greggo Posted Apr 30th 2010 7:44AM]

@finding remo21

I don't understand this thinking. The Courier wasn't intended to compete with the iPad or any other PMP. It also wasn't intended to replace a laptop or netbook. There isn't any competition for it because that market doesn't exist.

If the reason you didn't buy an iPad was because you were waiting on the Courier then you don't need an iPad, or you don't understand what exactly the Courier was intended to be.

[hm9408 Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:00PM]

This was almost as unexpected as HP&Palm...

[Stanley Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:01PM]

I can only laugh at the people who thought that demo was even remotely real.

[jjmusicman29 Posted Apr 29th 2010 10:53PM]

@Stanley It was just a 2-screen tablet with touch capabilities and a nice UI. It wasn't exactly unbelievable, it's just unbelievable no one's come out with one yet. MSI's working on a Courier wannabe right now, but its battery-life is abysmal.

[vlweir Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:01PM]

I'm sorry. I need a moment. I might even have to write some poetry to get through the 5 stages of grief. Very disappointed......Need some words that rhyme with luck, and fit,

[Engagged Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:01PM]

MS is only dumping this because they are coming out with an awesome 5" Winmo 6.5.3 tablet without a stylus! Its the future I tell ya!

Remember where you heard it first!

[Dr Kwame Nkrumah Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:02PM]

VAPOURWARE!

[kyphem Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:02PM]

I hope everyone who said Courier is not vapourware and will kill the iPad start hating Apple even more.

In the end everyone who said they will wait for the courier got left with NOTHING. This is how microsoft is they never deliver... same as WINDOWS 95!!! you remember!!!! Yes you do.

[BrokenBird Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:02PM]

I am sad, I was waiting for this dream device with a lot of anticipation. I guess I will have to fallback to Appholes iPad.

[FrankDTank Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:02PM]

FUCK!!!!

This makes me sad..

[darksharpie Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:03PM]

Doesn't this just leave it open for someone else to make a similar device? Not that many companies have the resources of Microsoft... I can think of two but they have their own mobile/tablet OS already ;)

[daniel80 Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:03PM]

The Mayans predicted this event... the end of the world is nigh!

[BergerFan Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:03PM]

Attention now turns, full time, to the Notion Ink Adam to step up to the plate, then the Gemini, etc.
Competition-wise, only a kick-ass HP tablet (not the Slate) with an optimised WebOS UI will get the job done.

[IronLantern Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:03PM]

It is a sad day for tech-heads...

[JRKScope Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:04PM]

Aw man and I hoped this thing would materialize. Anyway at least MS got us off the hook early.

[swirv Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:05PM]

We need ourselves a little 'Hitler loses it' video on this ... very disappointing

[Ambient80 Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:07PM]

@swirv

AGREED! I love those videos :D

[BergerFan Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:07PM]

@swirv If EVER a Hitler Responds meme was needed, it's now.

[oxfdblue Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:05PM]

I was so looking forward to buying one of these.

What a stupid, stupid decision.

[winbsodos Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:05PM]

VAPORWARE
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vaporware is a word used to describe products, usually computer hardware or software, not released on the date announced by their developer, or announced months or years before their release. It usually implies a negative opinion of a product, and uncertainty that it will eventually be released. Example: Microsoft Courier.

[MLamont Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:05PM]

They could sell the rights to manufacture it to someone else. I could never imagine MS selling this directly. It just is not in their DNA - software is.

I could see a major OEM picking it up if MS continues to develop the OS and applications for it.

[Ambient80 Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:06PM]

Sadface.

[AdamSapnik Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:06PM]

My life is now un-worth living... I give up...

Thanks Microsoft. :'(

[joelaf Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:08PM]

so now what's left are the Astri MyId and the Fisher Price iXl? Or an even bigger DSiXL?

[t2af Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:09PM]

hahahaha, i knew it ..

[shishi Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:10PM]

...and back to the real world full of shiny iToys and Craptablets.

How come the real awesome and useful concept stuff never gets made!!! arggghh!

[ninja98 Posted Apr 29th 2010 5:10PM]

Another vaporish 'iPad killer' bites the dust.
To all the 'experts' who were screaming here to wait for this? Thanks for your great advice, but not really. You guys are fools. I'm not taking this shit anymore. I'm ordering my iPad right now.