Microsoft Tablet: Was Gizmodo Punked?
Gizmodo is showing off what it calls an "astonishing" tablet from Microsoft called Courier.
The gadget blog has images of the dual-screen, multi-function device and an demo video to display its features, which, if accurate, is pretty cool indeed. (All the functions are available elsewhere, including the iPhone, so I wouldn't call it astonishing, but the way they're all put together is very stylish).
Several flags:
- there is no indication that the device was made by Microsoft, either on the prototype itself or on the video; and
- the device seems a huge leap forward for Microsoft.
branded Pioneer Studios, a Microsoft division within E&D that specializes in this kind of work, working with another agency that's a long-time Microsoft collaborator on confidential projects.But that only means that, if this is a spoof, whoever pulled it off knows enough about Microsoft to do it well. I'm not saying the video is definitely a fraud and that the gadget doesn't exist (or isn't by Microsoft), but I am suggesting that Gizmodo has been wrong about product scoops before. Publishing scoops has its inherent dangers, and all I'm saying is reader beware.
If this turns out to be an actual product demo, let's also keep in mind that the product itself is never demonstrated: it's an animation. Silicon Alley Insider's Dan Frommer ticks off a laundry list of potential pitfalls for the device and pratfalls that Microsoft could still take on the way to bringing Courier to market. Frommer notes it's been eons since Microsoft even delivered a product that actually works as well as this seems, something to which I alluded yesterday when I wrote that Microsoft might be better throwing over its own operating systems (Vista and WinMo both) in favor of an open source flavor that could actually work properly.
[Image source: Gizmodo]