Microsoft: No Tablets Until It's Distinctive

BogenDorpher pointed us in the direction of a pocket-lint story saying "Microsoft’s UK managing director and ex-BBC man Ashley Highfield has exclusively told Pocket-lint that the company won’t produce a tablet device, and therefore follow in the footsteps of Apple and Google, until it's got something to shout about. 'We won't do anything in the tablet market unless we can be distinctive,' he told us." Have you considered making it light enough that your arm doesn't ache after 5 minutes?

I actually liked the idea behind courier

[Shivetya]

A folding tablet design which allowed pen entry. I already have a BT keyboard for my iPad as I found that I as used it more that input became more and more of an issue. Voice recognition won't work in a meeting and the built in keyboard can be a pain. Hence I have a clam shell case with BT keyboard. I remember the old Palm days with their shorthand and such. Adapt that idea. Give me alternative methods of entering data. Tie it all together with One Note. The folding / split screen approach would allow easy separation of work as well let alone make it more compact to carry.

Still the more I use my tablet the more I begin to wonder how long they will persist, they are good for presenting what I have, not so much for creating on, at least in the business environment

XP Tablet Edition

[ElementOfDestruction]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_editions#Tablet_PC_Edition [wikipedia.org] The old tablets were certainly a lot more functional than today's toys. It's a large phone, NOT a small laptop.

Re:In other words...

[Grygus]

I don't know; Microsoft has often been less than original, but look at what they did with console gaming: they pretty much ignored the industry entirely until they came out with the Xbox which was pretty innovative (e.g., different sized controllers, hard drive, robust and stable online component.) It wasn't entirely influential - Nintendo will always do their own thing - but I think the current shape of the console market (DLC, downloadable games, online marketplaces, the prevalence of online play) was largely shaped by Microsoft. If they take this same approach to netbooks it may well be worth the wait; Microsoft may be evil but they also have a lot of money and expertise to throw at a problem once they are interested.

Re:M$ fired the guys who had already designed one

[Richard_at_work]

I think its pretty plainly clear why Courier got dumped, and the team suffered some form of punishment - they publicised something which pretty much looked exactly like the holy grail of tablet computing. Seriously, look at the hype storm that followed the revealing of the Courier, even on here quite a few people said "yes, I would buy that in an instant". It had dual screens, fast processors, contact charging, promised a fantastic interface and a tonne of other things.

Basically, there was no way for the end device to live up to the dream that had risen around the publicised concept - or more correctly, no way for it to come in on time, in budget and fulfil everyones fantasies.

Microsoft had two options - get rid of the project quickly, or fail to deliver to the standard of the hype and suffer the consequences. So they ditched the project, which is pretty much their only real option.