Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Microsoft Courier - An SMB Must?

Microsoft CourierThanks to the new Courier tablet from Microsoft, all things tech considered cool have now been bumped up a notch. This double-screen tablet is your day planner digitized. The Courier has yet to be 100% confirmed by Microsoft who says that this is just one of many prototypes in the tablet platform for them. But throw in some rumors of Apple's tablet and Asus' E-reader/netbook and we may be closer to seeing this baby in action than we thought.

Courier appears to be the next wave in personal business devices. What little we know about Courier tells us that this device is a side-by-side dual screen tablet that works like a book. Each screen is 7inches in size and Courier has a built in camera as well as Wi-Fi. Information input varies from multi-touch gestures like pinching and flicking to using a stylus for things like writing and drawing.

Details are sketchy on how Courier will handle things like e-mail or if it comes with things specific for video conferences and VoIP like a microphone. But Courier does look like an outstanding replacement to the traditional pen and paper way of planning your schedule. It takes everything we love about pen and paper planning and combines it with the ease and speed of a computer. Courier has two pages as well as large writing spaces to make it easy for you do work.

With access to the web Courier seems designed specifically for use by businesses, managers, sales people etc... For the first time ever you have a fully digital day planner right at your fingertips. Users can take advantage of data mash-ups like taking your contacts and flicking them onto a map to find their location, which would come in handy to people and businesses that have to go on appointments or make deliveries. Note taking is easy with the reasonable screen size and stylus which makes it a perfect tool to take into meetings or even school and you also have web access at your fingertips. Courier, it seems, will have nothing to do with the Windows 7 or Windows Mobile Operating Systems. Instead it will use an operating system specifically designed for the Courier.

This innovation is the perfect device for any business owner, worker, or anybody that needs to keep their daily plans at the ready. It allows you to get rid of the messy pen and paper which means you will never loose your plans again. This tablet is up against a similar device from Apple. However, the Apple tablet seems to be geared more towards entertainment while Courier is presented more towards the business aspect of life. It is still undetermined whether or not Courier, or even Apple's tablet, will come out but you can bet they both will be popular products if they do.

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