Does secret Microsoft tablet trump Apple?
While rumors have been flying about the Apple tablet computer, has Microsoft been working on a tablet computer that will best Apple’s bid before it even gets out of the gate?
Other manufacturers are clearly coming up to speed on the idea of a tablet computer; at least a couple have been announced and there have been rumors about many more. Now, however, solid rumors have surfaced about a big player who may be trying to steal Apple’s tablet thunder. Microsoft is that new player and is at the heart of these rumors, said now to have come up with a truly unique tablet design that matches the Apple tablet rumors in future tech interest and may even exceed them.
The specifics, according to a PCWorld story and other sources, are rather startling, especially coming from a company much better known for software than hardware. The name of the rumored Microsoft tablet is Courier and it is said to be a dual-screen “booklet” computer, with two separate touch-screen panels that fold and unfold like a book. Those two sides are said to be amenable for use with both fingers and styli, and the operating system is rumored to be not at all Windows-like and in fact much more in the style of the iPhone operating system.
Recent entries, both rumored and announced, from the likes of Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard have not generated the sort of hype that is needed to compete with the rumors, getting more solid by the day, of an Apple tablet product available early next year. Microsoft entering the tablet marketplace, however, is a Big Deal. Their entry into the tablet fray does a couple of important things. First, it validates the very idea of a tablet computer in its current rumored form. And second, it provides the impetus of real competition in that marketplace, a fight for supremacy ad share among giants. This is a fight, though, that could easily be won by consumers.
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September 24th, 2009
Microsoft always tries to be first to the gate (whenever possible).
That’s why they come out with products like Vista and the Zune.
Rather than take the required time to do it right, they rush things to market, and it takes on average 3 versions before they get it right.
Apple’s been working on a tablet for several years (by some accounts, up to seven years)… How long has Microsoft been working on theirs? And, why?
If the reason they are working on it is to compete with Apple, then they need to go back to the drawing board. They need to build a product because it is needed in the marketplace, and it’s innovative enough to be better than anything else – not just a glorified convergence of an iPhone/smartphone and a laptop.
September 25th, 2009
Ron, this looks more like a logical progression of the interactive table MS released last year, so the concept has probably been in the works for some time (especially seeing as MS have been playing with touch screen interface integration into their OS since XP). I think the inclusion of a stylus is a major advantage over the touch interface of Apple, as it allows handwriting and sketching, and the dual screen format has proven very popular with the nintendo DS. If this comes within the next year and actually lives up to the demo video, then Apple will have to go back to the drawingboard.