Software giant Microsoft scrapped the Courier tablet project last year because the device diverged from its strategy of bringing Windows everywhere without compromise, a new report claims.
Don't shoot the Courier
With the Redmond, Wash. Windows maker, hard at work on both a slate computer in partnership with HP and a dual-screen Courier concept, Apple threw down the gauntlet by announcing the iPad in January of last year.
But, for Steve Ballmer, the company's CEO, it was competition between Microsoft's own executives, who disagreed on the future of tablet computing, that troubled him, rather than external competition from Apple, CNET's Jay Greene reported after interviewing 18 former and current Microsoft executives. The Courier team's lofty goals clashed with those of Steven Sinofsky, the company's Windows chief.
In light of the conflict, Ballmer reportedly had trouble deciding whether to allow the Courier team to continue and turned to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates for help.
Gates set up a meeting with J Allard, the mastermind behind the project, and then Entertainment and Devices division President Robbie Bach, as well as two other Courier team members. According to Greene, Gates asked Allard how users would access email on the tablet. Allard reportedly told the Microsoft chairman that the team wasn't interested in building "another email experience," and that they viewed the device as focused on content creation.
"This is where Bill had an allergic reaction," a source told Greene. Gates then grilled Allard on the lack of Exchange and Outlook support, two of the company's most profitable products.
Shortly after the meeting, Courier was cancelled because it strayed too far from Microsoft's Windows and Office franchise, sources told CNET.
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