After all, Microsoft is not going – at least for now – to invest in the development of a tablet. The end of the Courier project, whose existence had never even been officially announced (or even acknowledged) by the manufacturer, has now been confirmed by one of the company’s communications officers.
The news was advanced yesterday by blog specialized in Gizmodo technology, according to which the company’s executives would have, on the previous day, informed the team responsible for the Courier that the project would no longer be supported by the company.
Contacted by blog, the company informed that the product would not proceed to the production phase. According to a person in charge of the mentioned communication area, the company is “constantly looking for and testing new ideas”, making “the Courier project an example of this type of effort”. This will be the subject of an evaluation for possible use in future offers, but the company “does not plan to manufacture the device at this time”, he added.
Rumors about the Courier began during the summer of 2009, with some international specialized media advancing details on the development of a tablet by Microsoft, namely Gizmodo and Engadget – who cited “close” and “reliable” sources and released concept images of a “revolutionary” device, identified as a strong competitor to the iPad.
According to the information that was being transmitted, the device – which even had a probable launch date: sometime in the second half of 2010 – would be a mix between ebooks and tablet, featuring two touch screens and a design similar to a small book, 2.4 centimeters thick and 450 grams.
Both the displays they could be “navigated” either with the fingertips or using a stylus, allowing for example the recognition of handwriting. In addition to writing, it was said that it would do voice recognition and include a camera.
