The Microsoft Courier Concept & Why Apple May Be in Trouble

No, not the person you hired to hand deliver that important message to your ex-mother-in-law. The Microsoft Courier to be exact. You may be asking yourself, what exactly am I talking about? There is no product from Microsoft called the Courier, is there? Well, no, not really. Not yet, at least, but there will be-soon, very, very soon. Apparently, according to reports, it is slated for holiday season 2010. According to Engadget, photos were leaked of the Microsoft Courier Concept digital journal-for the second time. Back in November of 2009, the idea that Microsoft would be releasing its own version of a tablet leaked out, but no one seemed to care too much about the story, and it quickly faded out.

Information Leaked Again

With the newly leaked photos-there is even a video showing how it works-it seems to be catching a bit of needed momentum. For some reason, though, it has not caught on enough-yet. It will, though... I have no doubts; this is the iPhone killer, the iPad killer and a big Apple eating machine rolled into one. That is, if it lives up to what the video makes it out to be. With that said, lets look at the concept of the Courier digital journal and see what it claims to offer, and why Apple is in for it if the Courier does even half as much as it claims.

Why So Long?

It makes sense why Microsoft has waited so long to announce they had-or was even thinking about-direct competition with the iPad. With the alleged abilities the Courier digital journal will have, it looks like they were trying to keep this project under wraps as ling as they could for a good reason. I speculate that reason is that if Apple would have gotten wind of what Microsoft was doing, they might have actually tried to compensate and retaliate. However, Microsoft took the high ground did the smart thing-waited until everyone of importance announced their own products, then MS created their own (or tweaked their existing product to compensate) and made it better.

Conceptualized Features

The features and abilities the video depicts are absolutely stunning. My jaw dropped on the floor while I watched what it would allegedly do. The digital journal is two screens you hold as an open book then fold into one thin 5x7 photo size "tablet style" book close it. It will run on the same OS as Zune, presumably WinMo 6.5. Apparently, the Microsoft developers have centered the digital journal on drawing and writing and a website to collect everything from. Most of what was demonstrated in the video consists of using the stylus pen to write, draw, cut, copy, paste, tuck (it's got a pocket in the hinges!) and send. It also features multi-touch capabilities, tap and go, and more. It also has the ability to product on screen sticky notes-lord how I love sticky notes! The developers gave it these extra abilities so the basic abilities would work right... I think that they figured they were there already, so why not give consumers what they want? Drawing and writing apparently wouldn't have happened in the first place.

What Consumers Want

It just happens to have the connectivity to do everything else consumers want it to do. Email, take pictures, edit and send those pictures-all in the same application. Anything you send shows up as an email-just as a regular attachment. They say we can surf the Internet, browse as if the webpages are in a Rolodex, browse native file folders in the same way and much more. The Calendar and date book application works wonders, and you can make anything your home page for when you power up. I mean anything. Are you working on an important project? Well, according to the video, you can see that project as the home page for easy editing.

Only One Thing Missing-Maybe...

In fact, the only thing I can think of that hasn't been talked about yet is whether or not it will make phone calls. Nevertheless, let me project a thought for a minute, I think if it could make phone calls, or Microsoft planned to give it that ability, they would have said so by now. Or, maybe not. Maybe it will make calls, but they are keeping that secret for its release. That is the beauty of this gadget. We don't even know for sure that it will even exist in the first place! It makes this whole tablet thing fun again. Because we know the iPad is on its way, we know what it has-not much of anything, which Steve Jobs proved when he showed it off to the world.

$499 for What?!?!

As for the price? Steve Jobs, in his speech showing it off for the first time, stated, "I'm thrilled to announce to you that the iPad pricing starts not at $999, but at $499."Apparently, he received a lot of applause for that. So, yeah... Great. He's not ripping them off at $999, but at half that. Yeah, great price for the iPad that people have been waiting for 20+ years, isn't it? Well, it was until you look at the specs to see what it has to offer so you can justify paying the price in the middle of a recession. Then you realize it doesn't actually offer anything worthy of the price.

As far as anyone knows, it still has no camera, no Flash support, no USB ports, and absolutely no tethering, as it was recently shown through a reply email from Mr. Jobs himself, according to the Apple Insider. This no tethering is making the Wi-Fi version almost worthless to most people. They either have to buy a whole new data plan or they get roped into buying the combination 3G/Wi-Fi version that costs $629 for the "basic' 16 GB model to use it away from the home. Come on, Mr. Jobs, why are you going to make loyal Apple/Mac users pay extra for an extra data plan, when they already have a compatible one they can use? It's not like it's incompatible, is it? Of course it is, the iPad is just a big iPhone-except it can't make calls and it can't tether. if the Courier can actually do what it claims to do, and if it Microsoft actually releases it, iPad will have nothing in comparison to the Courier.

Let the Price Wars begin

Just think of the price wars. Over the last 20 years, or so, Microsoft and Apple are known to butt heads with their legendary price wars. Apple, on average, is about three times more expensive than Microsoft, period. Even though the Courier is not officially announced, and there is no official price, if you take the difference in price patterns over the years, you can see the clear winner when it does come out finally. If you take that fact and use it I this situation, could you imagine how cheap the Courier will be in comparison with the iPad?

So, will Microsoft Courier concept live up to expectations? After watching the video and knowing how powerful Microsoft developers are, in my opinion, I think it will. But, then again, that's just my opinion and the Courier is just a concept. However, I think MS is a bit more motivated when it comes to releasing products than Apple is. I don't think Microsoft will make us consumers wait 20 years for a product. But it will do everyone some good to remember that whether or not Engadget states their source claims Microsoft will release the Courier holiday season 2010 or not, Microsoft has yet to officially announce it's existence and until then, it's pure speculation. You be the judge.

References & Resources
9TO5mac: Steve Jobs tells Swedish DJ that the iPad won't tether to the iPhone
Engadget Microsoft's "Courier Digital Journal-Exclusive Pictures and Videos."
GDGT: Live Apple: "Come See Our Latest Creation/Tablet Event Coverage"
Gizmodo: "Microsoft Courier Devolution"
NewsLibrary Search, Published on February 21, 1988, The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)Original Tablet Idea