Well, that’s it, I guess. The CrunchPad and Apple Tablet had a good run (in their mysterious ways), but Microsoft has come out of left field to deliver what appears to be the coolest tablet-like computer we’ve ever seen. Those lucky ducks over at Gizmodo appear to have a pretty solid exclusive on it, though, but I’m burning through my little black book of Microsoft guys to get more info.
What they’ve got in place looks fun, practical, and damned good-looking. Although currently in “late prototype” phase, and only available in renders at the moment, it is a real thing and it will come out. It’s probably best for you to just head over there and watch the video (the curs have made it un-embeddable). Scat!
It’s comical that you can declare that Courier puts the Apple tablet in second place. The Apple tablet is still a rumor and we don’t have any solid information on what it will do or even look like. The Microsoft tablet could be better, but let’s not count our chickens before they hatch.
That’s why it’s in second place.
bam!
bahaha!
please…. the apple tablet IS and HAS been a rumor for ages, made up by apple to disappoint us all… And when it does in fact make its debut, its not gonna be till the third or fourth upgrade before it gets to a decent point.. I’m gonna put my eggs on the MS basket on this one…
ofcourse you all think its great until you discover the ways in which M$ has purposely crippled it
unlike the iphone, which is purposely crippled in all the ways you find appealing?
Bam!
Sounds like the words of a true Mac Fanboy.
Speaking about the CrunchPad, what’s the latest news on it? I’ve been waiting like crazy for this thing to finally come out, at the very least give us a few more details.
Gizmodo says Fusion Garage has told them the CrunchPad is coming in November. It seems like the Crunch people have no idea what is going on.
There’s a chip in our brains that blows up if we talk about it.
My ten year old daughter: “Daddy, I have to have that!”
10 year younger myself — “Dude, I would love that!”
First off, this is a really cool looking prototype. Second, I would hearken to what others raise; namely, when will the real product ship and what’s the OS and tools side of the equation, as Apple has pretty much shown this to be the bar for success.
Clearly, Apple learned this lesson from Microsoft (in PC 1.0) but MS feels long removed from those days (i.e., cultivating and growing a software centered ecosystem), especially in light of all of the legacy that they have to support.
Btw, here are some thought on where e-Book is headed:
Rebooting the Book (One Apple iPad Tablet at a Time):
http://bit.ly/zOoEu
Check it out if interested.
Mark
Just embed the YouTube video that Neowin posted maybe?
more ms vaporware… will never see the light of day…
I don’t think so. This one feels real and coinsides with new Microsoft stores. The real “kicker” will be if they release it themselves and not via 3rd party OEM. This would be Microsoft’s first computer they controlled, similar to Apple at a time when millions of XP businesses will be upgrading to Windows 7 which, of course, trickles down to mom and pop. Not to mention the $29 educational promo. Everyone will want it at that price, so tie in a MIcrosoft only computer and we have a game changer.
I don’t get it. I watched the video and all this “journal” business seems useless to me. I don’t need to collaborate my ideas with people in my contact book. I just want to surf the fucking internet. Can it do that?
Did you watch the video until the end?
They do some surfing on it.
well then just take another ave dude. Why the hateruptightness??? Apparently you have no one with which to collaborate ideas with seeing how you can’t even share this one “sensibly”. Gee. I can’t imagine why:,
I know bloggers aren’t real journalists, but it still amazes me how blogs will swallow corporate marketing whole without any investigation or concern.
So you see a corporate marketing video for an unfinished, likely experimental product and automatically put it on the top of the pile of a bunch of other fictional products? Really?
Have we not yet learned the difference between an actual, physical, shipped and launched product and a vaporware tech demo?
Are you really going to tell me that every skunkworks project and proof-of-concept video always makes it to full production, unchanged and as cool as the mock-ups? Really?
I’m not here to defend Apple’s fictional tablet either, but it seems to me that many tech bloggers are so anxious to knock Apple down a peg that they will latch on to any little bit of marketing hype from anyone simply to try to make a case that Apple sucks. It’s sad really.
Yeah, terribly sad. How long did you take to write your reply again?
Not long at all, you’d be amazed at how quickly one can put together an insightful post when they know how to form coherent thoughts and sentences.
Apparently you only watched the video. The news being provided by Crunchgear (initially gizmodo) is not only the provision of an animated video of the device in action, but that sources have stated it is in the late prototype stage, and that it is set to be released. If you choose to disbelieve these sources, that is your prerogative; however, Mr. Coldewey has decided to believe them, and as such, has reported on the story in that fashion.
The only sad part is how someone who claims to be as coherent and insightful as you, completely fails to extract the entirety of information available, and refuses to recognize that today’s news (in the form of blogs) sets itself from traditional paper media by reporting on speculation as it happens. If that ticks you off so much, go read a magazine.
The Apple tablet is supposedly in the late prototype stage too, the only difference is that Apple doesn’t pre-announce products until they are imminently ready to ship.
My issue is that praise is being heaped on a device for which only a marketing video and some unconfirmed rumours exist.
I have no issue with reporting that it is coming, but how do you bless a device with such praise when you have yet to even see it?
The only reason I can think of it that people are so desperate to trip up Apple that they will praise anything that even has a shot at competing. Just look at the number of media-anointed “iPod killers” and “iPhone killers” over the past few years, virtually none have even come close.
Let’s wait ’til the thing actually sees the light of day (both the Apple and MS tablets) before we declare anyone the winner, that’s all I’m saying.
The thing you are missing, in your rush to declare anyone who likes this concept an Apple hater, is the possibility that someone might like this concept more than Apple’s concept.
So far, all that has been leaked/speculated/fabricated about the Apple tablet, points to it being a very large iPod touch. A media-centric device, aimed entirely at a broad-based consumer market, looking to waste time and entertain themselves.
This Microsoft concept seems squarely aimed at the creative professional, as a production tool. Some of us like that concept more. Some of us already use a pressure-sensitive stylus every day as our main interface device, and the idea of a tablet with both touch and stylus input is far more exciting than a tablet limited to a simple touch interface. Some of us want to be able to jot a quick note, not hunt and peck at a virtual keyboard that takes up half the screen. Some of us want to carry around something that makes our work easier, not something that makes it easier for us to not get any work done.
Even if both products never see the light of day, that doesn’t change the fact that one concept is clearly superior to the other concept for certain uses, and certain markets. I think that what is being said here is not that one (as yet imaginary) product will sell better than another (as yet imaginary) product, but that one concept is more appealing and exciting than the other concept. I can’t speak for the author, but when I look at everything speculated about the Apple tablet, I say “who cares, a large iPod pseudo-PDA?” When I look at this concept I say “that is exactly what I want out of a portable device!”
wow. you said everything that i’ve been thinking. i want a touch interface stylus pad computer internet surfing product that i can get WORK done on and is ready for havy maximum mutlitasking usage for a long time. this looks like exactly what i want. i haven’t seen anything yet but i’m going to head over to gizmodo and see if i will be sold. if this is oriented to getting mroe things done instead of being marketed as a fucken entertainment device i will be in the line up when this gets released. i hope it has good battery power and a idea for the backlinght…to backlight or not to backlight. i’m glad they’re making something new.
True but at that time, unlike now, Microsoft may be releasing this as their own. On the consumer front, with the vista nightmare, they had to also release drivers for XP, server 03-09, Vista, Millenium, XP media and quite a few more. Microsoft is streamlining to one OS and one Server OS. Look what happened to Apple when they released exhange last year for mobile me, which by the way was a move away from Apple computers and more toward all users, ie, no computer in nam, .mac gone, mobile me looks like a msft icon, but mm exchange was a nightmare and that was just one set of instructions which lost thosands emails and data that they gave mm users free 6 months and msft has to do this for thousands of developers.
Just saying.
Both are great systems but even today in broadcast, it’s mostly macs but I’ve seen lots of PC servers for rendering. Better price to perfomance ratio.
So what you’re saying is that you would prefer not to have known about the Courier. Right. You could just buy a place under a rock.
Actually what’s sad is how Apple dumped the pro user, one to one is all iLife now, no midrange pro machine and they cater to users wanting iPhones, mobile me(Jo more .mac or computer in name), build desktops that are made out of server parts to raise the price build consumer desktops out of mobile parts to make more profit and no longer pay attention to the user base that supported them pre-iPhone. That’s sad.
The Apple tablet has supposedly been in the late prototype stage for years. Not to mention, that is Apple’s strategy. They want to keep everything a secret until its time to ship, then they can take the good with the bad. The bad being rampant speculation.
Also, why do you put so much emphasis on seeing the actual product? The animation provided does a pretty good job at showing its form and content and they are both impressive.
The media likes to “trip up” apple because it results in a lot of attention. Apple is a company that relies almost exclusively on hype (think huge announcements, flashy ads, criticizing competitors). Therefore, if apple is involved, the hype can be transferred to the article itself. Not to mention, fan boys go ape shit every time an article criticizes apple, or praises another company (like here). It’s good for business.
Regardless, competition is a good thing and is the consumer’s best friend. It means lower prices, better products, and great technological advancements. Only a fool would complain about it.
When did I complain about competition?
I think competition is great, and the demo video looks promising for the MS Courier, but I’m not going to declare it a winner until it is actually released.
And no, I don’t fully trust animated PR videos, and neither should you. It is easy to make something look good when you don’t have to run the OS off of actual hardware but can instead superimpose a smooth video demo over a fake product mock-up.
Hey LSC, stop whining about declaring somone a winner… Its ppl like you that create monopoly…. you just can’t accept the fact that Ms has come up with something that just blew your mind when you saw it the first time…
going back to your claim that Apple’s tablet is in its late prototype, how do you know this?… I dont know about you but I would rather talk about something that I am able to see and criticize…
If you really want to see how the early prototype of this device performs, go ahead and google or should I say bing “Codex and InkSeine” the roots of Microsoft’s Courier?
Anyways, I dont think you are bright enough to realise that you have been part of the hype all along..by posting multiple replies you are the one who is building the hype over this device… I hope you can read and digest this and if you really care that about Apple’s tablet then you will not post a reply to avoid the hype over Ms’s Courier. lol..man ppl like you would do anything to avoid companies from succeeding other than Apple ofcourse. This is one of the characteristics of Apple Fanboy. Im sure everyone else here is just excited about the new device.
Wow .. Technology advances every day man. This is cooler than Ice cold.
I want this now!
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With all of this, we’re giving away a ton of prizes just for registering (not even for competing!). We’ve got a truck full of Halo ODST games to give away, as well as a grand cash prize of $10,000 and trips to Imagine Cup events in Washington D.C. and the Imagine Cup World Finals in Poland in 2010!
Register to win here: http://tr.im/zmQD or follow us on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/imaginecupus) for our Halo Happy Hours starting this Friday!
i just saw the video on gizmodo and i need something like this so bad. man. when is it coming out? i will buy it for whatever it costs. i’m so fed up i no longer care. i need a portable computer, pda, browser, creative system all together.
From its track record, MS has yet to come up something impressive and 1st tier product as far as hardware is concerned.
Bi-Platformer here (both Macs and PCs) and I gotta say, I’ve been pretty excited waiting for the Apple Tablet. But after seeing this, my excitement has just turned into involuntary convulsions. I really don’t care who’s is better, but if MS pulls off a product that is as good as these photos and video looks, this is going to be a great machine. Hopefully this will light a match under Apple’s toes and really push them to turn out something amazing. And I sure hope that they WILL each appeal to a different group (entertainment vs productivity) so that each group will have a easier time making their choice. But if both are great at everything! Even better!
And please stop with the fanboying and battleship blogging, one way or another. It really is all much ado about nothing. Just be happy that great new technology is coming and enjoy it!
The last time M$ had a device like this was… never. Fact of the matter is, there’s no physical version in existence yet, which means M$ has plenty of time to screw up coding the OS and make it a manufacturing failure.
Maybe they will screw it up, maybe they wont. We just don’t know. Physical version? We don’t know that either.
Wow, pessimism and cynicism really is in fashion. Maybe I should get on board.
HI THERE I HOPE IF MICROSOFT WILL ALSO USE 64 GB SSD INSTEAD OF A HARD DRIVE A TABLET WITH 64 OR 128 GB FLASH SOLID STATE DRIVE SSD WOULD BE ALWOSUME
Stupid M$ & Apple Fanboys!
I have to agree with the author, I love this thing. I think it’s very versatile and it will trump the Apple tablet in terms of sales as it appeals to multiple users not just luxury item buyers. I can see students and business professionals using this in their busy day to day lives for multiple purposes. I can’t see that many people adopting a limited tablet like the CrunchPad or Apple tablet that’s more expensive, less portable, or less versatile in terms of form/function.
I am more excited about having a chance of owning this then I ever was about any other comsumer product (yes, including the iPhone). I talked myself out of buying an iPhone and went with a BBerry. But this is just too ‘natural’. Can’t wait.
I am in love with this thing! Personally, I am a mac guy, but this thing cannot be done right without it’s own special software and microsoft nailed it. A full blown OS can never really be successful on a device like this, unless Apple was trying to target artists with a larger version, but from the sounds of it being just media/entertainment oriented, it really fails. I just cannot see how the Apple tablet will ever compete with this. The courier is perfect for a student like myself. It’s not a laptop/computer replacement, but rather your new unlimited/syncable notebook and textbooks. I am ready to buy it now. You hear that MS?? Make it now and we will come lol
Wow. I am completely stunned. First, Windows 7, and now this? I mean, I knew Microsoft was turning itself around when I got to mess with a Surface Table. That by itself completely blew me away and restored my faith in the company. Then, just before I all most made the switch to Mac OSX, I got to play with WIndows 7. Damn, that was a close call. Don’t get me wrong, I love Apple. I love my iPhone. But there is a lot of stuff that Microsoft is just doing better these days, and I can say I am very happy about it. What is better than having one company that makes great products – Two companies making awesome products, so that you can figure out which one you like better and choose accordingly. I know there are other players in the market but none have impressed me as much as Apple and recently Microsoft.
This thing is perfect. I have WAY too many projects. I can hardly keep track of all the details, the little scribbles of paper and sketches on napkins, the things that people email me, the websites I come across, the photos I see .. And no device has yet to bring all of that stuff together, like this has the potential to. I have a lot of moleskine notebooks laying around with projects in them that I would have to organize and scan just to share them and collaborate with people on .. this one device can replace all of that. From what we have been shown, it is absolutely perfect for me, and regardless of price I would buy it.
I do have concerns, like everyone else. What kind of processor does it have, what kind of speed, and power consumption will we see? What is the battery life? What material are the screens made out of, and most importantly – what kind of pressure sensitivity do they have? Will the software be open for application development? And most of all – When the hell is it coming out!? Like R56 said, I am ready now. Microsoft: You make it, and we will freaking buy it.
As do I and I have some apple products.
First, the iPhone is crippled, which inhabe, unless you jail braknit. You can’t watch any videos on it at all.Let’s see, eg, ABC.com I can watch lost all of seasons 1-4 and some if 5, but with the iPhone, it won’t play flash, and they want you to buy each episode for$1.99-2.99 and free, online, is in HD, which is better than what Apple calls HD. unless jailbroken. Want teethering? Can’t have it. Jail break and you can and it’s free.
With MacBooks. They realsed a better gpu then found out people were running motion, so they rerelease a MacBook that brought OpenGL from 171% benchmark down to 70%. No more motion. Sad part is it never affected gamers which make up amlargerbshare than music and video combined. Then the release a better gpu but no FireWire. Remember that? Apple screwing with us again. The sad part is this; audio, video, gamers are in a target segment known as ProSumers which is 100 xnlarger then the pro market, yet there is still no mid range quad device. All iMacs are mobile parts with very old gpu parts. Avid on the other hand (owners of pro tools), saw the writing on the wall
and bought maudio and now makes a bundle, yet apple has yet to catch on. In fact, graphic artists used to use iMacs and now even MacBooks are all glossy. They just keep milking you so you go in planning on spending$999 but for a little more, you get the feature you want and walk out spending almost double you budget and it’s called a brick if the specialist failed to sell you apple care. Speaking of which, not to long ago apple 1 to 1 trainers new logic, FCP,shake, now all they know is the iLife suite sad.
I think the bigger story here is if msft releases this as their own computer and not oem, this will be huge add to that the millions of IT companies stillat XP that will upgrade to windows 7 and I think Apple may be in for some tough time.
Hope this is real as I want ine and now, even though I have a MacBook pro with express port, iPhone, hacntosh, 10.5.7,10,4,11,10.5.8,10.6.1 clean and 10.6.1 with migration, it makes a little more sense then a 10 inch itablet that still won’t platnfalsh, will probaby need a contract with AT&T fio outside access and won’t be much of antlything except to RENT/purchAe movies, nothing free, I am starting to think, pass, especially if it’s just a large iPhone and no flash.
Peace
Apologize for the spelling. Used an iPhone and click noise turned off. Add no click and auto correct and you can get a lot of garble. Hope some of you get what I mean.
Oh, and the click is off due to the iPhone lagging if it clicks eveytime you hit a letter. But it does help with spelling (click on), as you know if you missed a letter.
Ironic.
The ironic poetic part is you can’t watch most videos at mac rumor sites until they are converted to YouTube. Lol.
Peace. Apple and MSFT both good. I just think Apple needs to adress the pro again with mid range and Microsoft needs to release their own computer, which makes sense. I can see these at all the new stores us in many, many meetings, but it’s things like no flash o iPhone or no DVR on Apple TV that makes Apple so in the dark ages using mobile parts for everything except the pro and that’s nit even desktop parts but server parts, thus inflating the price.
Get with the program Apple!!
And release quad and Octo core, headless midrange for the prosumer that makes the pro marketshare look like kindergarden.