{"id":547624,"date":"2010-04-29T17:24:06","date_gmt":"2010-04-29T21:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"tag:contentnext.com,2010-04-29:article\/419-microsoft-wont-make-its-uber-secret-courier-tablet"},"modified":"2010-04-29T17:24:06","modified_gmt":"2010-04-29T21:24:06","slug":"microsoft-wont-make-its-uber-secret-courier-tablet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/547624","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Won’t Make Its Uber-Secret “Courier” Tablet"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT<\/a>) is finally confirming that it has been secretly developing a tablet computer of its own—but only in announcing the project’s demise. In a statement<\/a> provided to Gizmodo<\/em>, a Microsoft spokesman says that while the tablet—nicknamed “Courier”—will be “evaluated for use in future offerings … we have no plans to build such a device at this time.”<\/p>\n

Microsoft isn’t saying why—but the device was slated to come to market by the end of the year at the earliest. Considering that Apple’s iPad has already been a big hit and that there are already so many other tablet-like devices—including Windows-based ones from third-parties—about to go on sale, the company may have thought the market was too crowded for a branded device of its own. Just yesterday, Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ<\/a>) said that its $1.2 billion purchase<\/a> of Palm (NSDQ: PALM<\/a>) would mean it would be bringing Palm’s webOS to slates and tablets in addition to the phone.\n<\/p>\n

Conspiracy theorists (like me!) will also note that the aura surrounding the device already served a very useful purpose for Microsoft, in its attempts to counter iPad buzz. For instance, word of the “Courier” first leaked during the fall— when speculation<\/a> that some sort of tablet computer from Apple (NSDQ: AAPL<\/a>) was on the way was at a high point. And, on March 5, when Apple said that iPad sales would begin April 3, new photos<\/a> of the Courier just coincidentally surfaced on Engadget<\/em>. Now that the iPad is out and selling well, perhaps Microsoft decided it was no longer worthwhile to keep up the tease.\n<\/p>\n

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