Apple has taken the lead with power tablets with the iPad and while all of us would have been anticipating tough competition to step forth, it is actually being put off. How? Well Microsoft is set to give up on Courier, what it termed to be the future of tablet PCs. To be honest, from what the specs state the device was ought to be pretty impressive, boasting a dual screen, camera, multi-touch and a whole of other features. Sadly it might never be seen.
If I am not wrong, Windows 7 has touch support but sadly enough that would fail big time to provide users with the experience the iPad does. I can guarantee that Microsoft would have released the Courier had Apple postponed or never come out with the iPad. With the power Apple brings with its latest device, it was obvious this had to happen. And oh that’s not it, rumors have it that HP might be pulling the strings off its slate too. Though my resources say it’s a pure rumor and the HP will definitely be launching the gadget soon and its acquisition of Palm earlier for $1.2 Billion is quite an indication why it would as it gives them hold of the webOS another option for the OS instead of the Windows Mobile 7.
I am not some geek who can really provide a super solution that make Microsoft go ahead with Courier. But there is one suggestion I have for it: marry Android with Carrier and you might get something powerful enough to stand a chance against the might of the iPad. Why so? Well Microsoft is least intuitive to provide a rich user experience that Apple’s OS does and the the only close competition to Apple is Google’s Android.
The strategy shouldn’t be alien to Microsoft. It has tried the ‘Enemy of my enemy is my friend’ when it tried to team with Yahoo to rise in competition against Google in the Search market [albeit it never really putting a dent to Google]. Right now Microsoft stands losing the hardware race too and it would be only in Microsoft’s best interest to shake hands with Google for Android at least for its Courier device.
[image thanks to Gizmodo]
