In a competition for most recycled rumor, the Apple tablet and the Microsoft smartphone would run a close tie. Both have been in the headlines again in the past week or so ‘ so why not combine the two, and come up with a Microsoft tablet?
This is the latest speculation to hit the blogosphere, and it is just such a tempting tale, pitching the old rivals head-to-head in no fewer than three hot mobile product categories ‘ the tablet; the smartphone (iPhone versus MS Pink or Zunephone, which may or may not be the same device); and the connected music player (iPod Touch versus Zune HD. At least both those are real products).
Just as the latest wave of Apple Tablet frenzy had simmered down, Microsoft has shown off a prototype device of its own, codenamed Courier. This looks surprisingly appealing, coming from a software house whose hardware design credentials have rarely been strong. For one thing, it adopts the dual-screen, book-shaped format that Asustek is using for its ebook reader, allowing the separate 7-inch screens to be used side-by-side for different applications (like reading a document and making notes, or looking up references online, or discussing it with a colleague). According to Gizmodo, the Courier is at the ‘late prototype’ stage, which could signal a launch at Consumer Electronics Show in January.
By contrast, the Apple tablet remains as eagerly stalked, and elusive, as a Yeti, but is widely expected to look like a large iPod Touch, with a 10-inch single screen. It may be called Macbook Touch, it could double as a games console and home media hub, and it might even debut with Verizon. But still Apple remains tight lipped. The latest rumors emerged over the weekend from Taiwan’s Economic News, which taps into the island’s manufacturing community for its stories. It reports that the product will debut in December and ship in February in some markets, sporting HSPA rather than Verizon’s CDMA. The sources speculate that the tablet will cost between $799 and $999 and will be positioned as a mobile internet device, with long battery life (apparently Apple has asked battery maker DynaPack to produce 300,000 batteries a month). It may also feature a processor based on the technology that Apple acquired with PA Semi, which would be a blow to Intel Atom and Apple’s reliance on Intel in the Mac line, if true. The product is likely to run a version of iPhone’s OS, though with more focus on browser-based access, a la Google Chrome OS.
One area that both Apple and Microsoft understand is that the emerging class of connected devices will span home, mobile and even in-car media usage, streaming all kinds of content and accessing applications over the air. This is a leap that the cellphone specialists like Nokia (in particular) are being slower to make, still leaving the phone firmly in the mobile world rather than integrated tightly with the set-top box, media server and so on.
Courier, then, will have the ability to serve as a home media hub, and Gizmodo says it will also have a camera in the back and a wireless charger similar to Palm Pre’s Touchstone. Its screens will be multitouch, and users can write, flick or draw on them with fingers or stylus. The blog comments: “The Courier user experience presented here is almost the exact opposite of what everyone expects the Apple tablet to be. It’s complex: two screens, a mash-up of a pen dominated interface with several types of multitouch finger gestures, and multiple graphically complex themes, modes and applications. Microsoft’s tablet heritage is digital ink oriented, and this interface, while unlike anything we’ve seen before, clearly draws from that, its work with the Surface touch computer and even the Zune HD.”
Microsoft has tried its hand at tablets before and never made much headway, but the addition of multitouch screens and wireless connectivity, plus rising user acceptance of new form factors, could help it this time around ‘ and in a world where some users, at least, want their devices to perform every function including making the tea, a complex user interface with a plethora of choices may be a leap forward.
This is not the only product possibly emerging from Microsoft at CES or sooner. There are also leaks of developments going on within the Danger handset unit it acquired last year. Buying Danger, maker of the niche but cultish Sidekick phone, confused Microsoft’s previously clear message that it would not compete with its own Windows Mobile licensees by designing actual gadgets. Although it has repeated that assertion since, there is still widespread belief that it will produce a hardware design.
The less controversial route would be to create a reference platform for the ODM/white label base on which Microsoft is likely to become more dependent as tier one customers like Palm turn their attentions to Linux-based options. But there is always the chance that Microsoft will seek to upstage Apple by offering a phone version of its Zune HD media player, one of the few products that has seen the software giant shine in the gadgets space.
If Microsoft does decide on a Zune phone, it would do well to draw on the expertise within its Danger subsidiary ‘ though earlier in the year, The Wall Street Journal speculated that the giant would work with a partner, such as LG, on a Zune handset. In the meantime, more Danger-branded phones are likely to appear, pleasing fans of the devices, who had feared Microsoft would kill the products. The Sidekick LX was unveiled in May, and may now be followed by two lower cost models, codenamed Turtle and Pure, according to leaks.
Both will be manufactured by Sharp, an OEM of Danger and also said to be in line to make another mythical Microsoft phone, the Pink, possibly for Verizon Wireless. Turtle will reportedly have a slide-out keyboard and almost-square shape, while Pure will be a more conventional slider design. These products could be the first showcases for the upcoming Windows Mobile 7, widely seen as Microsoft’s last chance to make a mobile impact outside the enterprise and defend its turf against Android. They are likely to be introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in early January and released in the first quarter of 2010.
Amid all this tablet excitement, Hewlett-Packard hopes to ride the wave of interest in this new device category with an actual commercial product. It has launched a gadget called DreamScreen which brings together mobile phone, PC and TV ‘ though it is designed mainly to sit still on the counter, rather than be carried around. Debate rages over whether Apple’s tablet would be a fully mobile device or a static one, more like O2’s Joggler, but HP is firmly in the static camp for now. It says DreamScreen represents a “new category” in home entertainment. Similar to Joggler or the Open Peak mediaphone, the device comes with a choice of 10-inch or 13-inch screen (but not a touchscreen) with an ARM-based processor, 2Gb of memory, a card reader and Wi-Fi (but not cellular connections). The controls are arranged around the edge of the screen and there is no keyboard
The product is designed to be used by a whole family or group to control media, collective schedules and leave messages. Services include digital picture frame, radio, music, TV, video, entertainment and information. It collects and integrates all this data by linking to other Wi-Fi PCs and devices round the home, to Wi-Fi handsets, and straight to the web. It does not have a full browser but does feature a selection of widgets for instant access to key apps like Facebook. It costs $249 or $299, depending on screen size, in the US, and will come to Europe next year.
HP is likely to push DreamScreen via carriers, particularly wireline ones, which could offer the gadget subsidized with a DSL router or cable subscription. It is suggesting various business models, such as a cut for the operator from widget-based services (since there is no browser, these remain under the carrier’s control, though HP will offer programming interfaces to allow addition of new apps, which could be highly localized ones, like pizza ordering).