Microsoft scotches rumours of early Courier release

Microsoft has denied rumours of an early release for the Courier tablet computer

Microsoft has responded to reports that it is planning to release a tablet computer codenamed Courier in the near future.

The industry has been awash with speculation that Microsoft will shortly release a twin screen e-book reader to compete with similar products from Apple and Amazon.

However, Frank Shaw, corporate vice president of corporate communications at Microsoft, poured cold water on such tales in a blog posting today.

"At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested and incubated. It's in Microsoft's DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity," he wrote.

"The Courier project is an example of this type of effort, and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings."

Microsoft is notorious for playing with technology and then abandoning it. Bill Gates drove the development of various handheld computing designs before they were dropped, and it appears that the Courier is now on the back burner.