Gizmodo reports that Microsoft is working on a super secret new project called the Courier. It is a device comprised of two folding screens, about the size of a book. It looks very cool and people are excited. As this is not a working device yet there are some sceptics who wonder whether it will ever come into existence
The basic idea, a book like device with two folding screens, is a good one. For all the speculation about an Apple tablet being a giant iPod Touch I have serious doubts whether that is what is planned. That would make it something akin to a CrunchPad and I don’t think a tablet like device works at that size. The stated purpose of the CrunchPad is to surf while you are on the couch, but that would be pretty awkward with a large, flat device. A book type orientation with two screens works far better because it mimics an action people are already familiar with. It also has the advantage that you can turn it sideways and use it like a conventional laptop with one of the screens converted to a virtual keyboard, iPhone style.
The success of the Kindle has also shown that there is a nascent market for eBooks. Again I think we are in the book equivalent of the pre-iPod days when there were clunky HD based music players which made it possible to see the future direction but the breakthrough device has not yet come. The Kindle has the same problem as the CrunchPad in that it is a flat, rigid device which is too great a leap from the traditional book reading experience to catch on. I’m going to boldly state now that Apple has no intention of producing a tablet like device and will come out with something far more similar to the Courier. If that happens we will see the stage set for a battle royal between Apple and MS. It will be the first time they have squared off in the same market without one or the other having built up a huge lead.
The advent of these devices has great potential to change the way people access information via the Internet. While you get broadly the same news on the internet it is not as satisfying as reading a newspaper. The design is far worse online, the pages seem cramped and hedged in with ads. This is partly to the size and orientation of computer screens which do not approximate well to the dimensions of a book or newspaper which leads to a lot of redundant space and bad design. Now, with the advent of devices which are further away from a traditional computer and closer to a book or a newspaper there is the opportunity for eBooks and genuine digital newspapers to really take off. It’s as big a shift as the emergence of the iPod was for music, the only difference is that in this case the breakthrough device may come from, whisper it, Microsoft.
