The word is out that Microsoft has scrapped plans for the Courier tablet, the  very innovative, two screened prototype tablet that was first outed by Gizmodo in September of 2009.

Executives at Microsoft have reportedly told their team who had been developing the Courier that the project was off. The tablet device had never been officially announced or even acknowledged by the software giant, but it sure did receive a fair share of publicity over the past few months, including from us here at Pulse on Tech.  The outed videos were really very impressive and had many of us waiting to hear about a price being set as well as a release date. Sigh.

The initial leak occurred last year when it was discovered that a prototype model was nearly finished being developed which allowed users to interact with the device both by touch and by pen.

Microsoft’s VP of Communications said recently that the company is always seeking new and innovative ideas and testing them, much like what was being done with the Courier.  He went on to say that the tablet device will be looked at for possible use in the future but that his company has no plans to build and release such a product now.

And that is too bad. The Courier showed signs of being a nifty device that could really take the electronics/mobile computing world by storm.  Maybe the idea was put on hold due to Apple’s huge success it is enjoying with the release of the iPad. We don’t know and we may never know, so rest in peace Courier, it was nice getting to know you!