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It's quite possible that Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) has a product in development that could give Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) long-rumored tablet device some real competition. The potential product is apparently called "Courier," and according to images and video leaked to gadget blog Gizmodo, it's pretty freakin' amazing.
At first glance, Courier looks more like a booklet than a tablet. It opens and closes like a book, and it appears to be bound in a leather or faux leather cover. Each side sports a seven-inch-or-so screen, and when closed, it might be less than an inch thick. The design is clean and uncluttered, and it appears to sport a camera, too. The interface is multitouch -- and get this, it comes with an old-school stylus. The leaked photos of the screens on the booklet show some architectural mockups, what looks like a real-estate home-for-sale flyer, and lots of various graphic elements.
It's unclear how far along Courier may or may not be in development, but apparently Microsoft may have it in a "late prototype" stage. Judging from an astounding animated video, Courier could turn into a killer product.
The Answer for Everything Office
If one thing is clear from the video, it's that the Courier prototype was envisioned to be more tool than toy: The voiceover in the video describes a woman preparing some sort of project. She takes notes, resets the virtual home page of her booklet with the project, takes photos and incorporates them into a project notes page, uses the stylus to take handwritten notes, draws a box around a list, then taps the screen to turn the list into a yellow sticky note. In one segment, the entire left screen becomes an address book. On the right, a Google-like map of a city. The narrator finds a contact, then flicks the contact across the "spine" of the device so it lands on the map, which then locates the address.
The address-to-map move has the ability to immediately wow a watcher into believing that the Courier is not only smart and useful, but cool, too.
The Courier also has a built-in Web browser, as you might expect, and the ability to use the stylus to cut-and-paste elements from a Web page onto a work page -- in fact, the metaphor for the Courier is more project journal than tablet, a virtual yet surprisingly real paper-like planner. You can reference the Web, photos or email on the left, for example, while taking notes and building plans on the right side screen.
I Need One Now
And here's the crazy thing: The Courier seems to bridge the gap between the ever-present need for paper and digital work tools. Ages ago, I had a thick, paper-based planner. I ditched that monstrosity for a Palm (Nasdaq: PALM), then ditched the Palm for being too stupid. For a couple of years, I tried to live on a laptop, then came my first iPhone. I've got a nice balance of calendars, tasks, Web and email access -- and portability. The only problem? Voice recordings are great, and little teeny keyboards are OK, but nothing beats the ease and effectiveness of writing something down -- an idea, a list, a drawing. The simple act of putting pen to paper seems to help cement the information, makes it easier to understand when you look at it again -- after all, it's not just bland text that your brain needs to decipher from scratch, it's got the shape and location of where you left it last, tiny cues to its content that bring the whole point of the ink on paper rushing back to your brain.
So yeah, I use a combination of my iPhone, MacBook, and paper to get things done. The iPhone is too small or slow often enough, the MacBook too cumbersome, and the paper too one-dimensional. But wrap up these core features into a single product that appears portable and durable, and man oh man, I just might be sold.
For information workers, a Courier could be a must-have tool. There was even a veiled reference to sharing a project, complete with clippings, snips and lists, with a client or coworker.
Where Are the Movies?
So far, these supposedly leaked Courier materials don't offer any clue to the entertainment aspects of the device. Presumably, you could watch a movie on it or listen to music. But imagining how to do that brings up a limitation: The movie likely wouldn't span both screens, so which screen do you watch on? And what about the orientation? Holding it to watch a movie would be terribly awkward. Might you open it so much that it folds over itself? If so, wouldn't that bang up the back side screen? Or tent it, so that it makes it's own stand? Now that would be handy sitting at a table, but your lap? Not so much.
And what about games? The Nintendo DS for corporate users? Funny. Holding the thing for entertainment purposes seems like it could be a big issue.
Where Does That Leave the Mythical Apple Tablet?
As anyone can see from the iPod touch, its design focuses first on everyday consumers -- everyone from kids to adults, and the experience starts with media, hits the Internet, and nails apps and games. The whole metaphor is about touching, tapping and swiping with your finger to get whatever information you want. Sure, you can create quite a bit on an iPod touch or iPhone, but the dominant metaphor for use is mobile access, not necessarily mobile creation.
A large-screen Apple tablet in the form of an iPod touch, say with a 10-inch screen, could embody all the goodness of the iPod touch. However, it would also offer so much more, including a viable e-book reader that could compete with the Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) Kindle, et al.
Plus, an Apple tablet has a built-in ecosystem ready to exploit -- thousands of App Store developers, companies that are buying into the touch interface for business apps, and an easy-to-understand distribution system. You can bet that Apple will make it easy to take and edit photos and video, turning the tablet into a do-everything wonder. Then, from a software standpoint, couldn't Apple give us a virtual split-screen option to take the wind out the Courier's booklet-style sails?
In all of this, one thing is certain: the mobile device world is heating up. Smartphones, e-book readers, notebooks, iPod touches, and soon, new form factors. It's definitely exciting. And my biggest surprise? Sitting up straight and leaning in as I first explored the leaked Microsoft Courier prototype details. It doesn't matter where your affinity lies -- PC or Mac -- the power of the iPhone is finally trickling down into other products from other companies, and this kind of innovation and competition for Apple will lead to smarter tools (and toys) for all of us.
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