Microsoft’s new booklet design tablet “Courier”
This has to be one of the coolest things I’ve seen it a while, but word is emerging about a new secret Skunk Works project called “Courier” which is a new innovative “booklet” design. This thing apparently has 2 7″ LCDs on a rigid hinge and it looks like something that might be direction tablet computers are heading towards.
One thing I’m not sure about is whether this design allows you to operate it like a notebook computer with a virtual keyboard if you need to type an email. Had this device been invented 10 years ago when a lot of people didn’t know how to type, it would have been an instant mega hit. These days, almost everyone knows how to type so they’re probably going to want a keyboard. It’s also not clear if you can flip the booklet back to back so that you have something you can hold in one hand though I doubt it since it’s probably too big for that. While it’s definitely a very cool device, I’m not sure if it’s as useful to me as a laptop. The user interface looks good but who knows if it actually works as responsive as it appears in the video. Ultimately, this may be a very nice niche product but I think it needs to be smaller, thinner, lighter for easy standing operation.
Wow, what a neat and innovative idea from Microsoft. Where ever could they have come up with such a thing?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/28/olpc-2-0-dual-touchscreen-mockup-surfaces-in-the-wild/
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/03/olpc-project-to-adopt-arm-processors.ars
http://www.cio.com/article/365172/OLPC_Announces_Next_Gen_XO_2_75_Laptop
While I doubt that the Microsoft version will be as featureless as the XO2, I am pretty sure the cost won’t be the same either.
In fairness, the OLPC 2.0 is still vaporware and they’ve never been able to implement a good operating system that was actually responsive or useful. There’s no doubt that all inventions borrow ideas from somewhere, but there is some genuine innovation and some originality here.
“I am pretty sure the cost won’t be the same either.”
The cost of an OLPC for $100 has been imaginary. Its actual cost to consumers was $400. At quantities of 10,000, they sold the OLPC at ~$230 which is no different than any other netbook. The problem is that the OLPC was effectively useless.
The OLPC 2.0 doesn’t exist anywhere but on paper so it’s meaningless to speculate how much it would cost. The record shows that OLPC usually cost more.
Last I hear, XO2 is to use a light weight version of Windows which sounds about right. Probably Windows 7 embedded or something along those lines. The seventy-five dollar price point is probably the biggest feat.
I do see the lacking keyboard a bit frustrating, but my thoughts are that there will be a virtual keyboard, same as XO2. This still looks like a kindle competitor rather than something of use. Graciously though, a second screen is becoming more and more useful.
@nucrash
“Last I hear, XO2 is to use a light weight version of Windows which sounds about right. Probably Windows 7 embedded or something along those lines. The seventy-five dollar price point is probably the biggest feat.”
C’mon, you know better than that. Anytime you hear Negroponte claim a certain price point, you should automatically multiply it by 2.3. In this case, I’d say the actual production price will be $300.
Now the question whether a second screen is more valuable for people than a physical keyboard. While people are willing to give up a physical keyboard for access to a 3″ LCD screen on the iPhone, I don’t think they’ll give it up on the netbook form factor simply because 9-11 inches is “good enough”. Beyond that screen size, people would rather have a physical keyboard instead of a second screen. I think it this product had launched 15 years earlier when most people had a fear of typing and they hadn’t actually forgotten how to hand write, then it would be a great success.
This could be a killer design for an ebook reader!