Former Microsoft Courier Team Members Release New IPad Apps

FiftyThree Inc. -- made up of many team members of the Microsoft Courier -- has released a new content creation suite for the iPad known as Paper. (Photo: www.fiftythree.com)

Back in mid-2010, when the Apple iPad first took the world by storm, Microsoft was busy cooking up its own answer to a next-generation tablet device. It was called the Microsoft Courier, and it was intended to be a foldable Moleskine-like tablet that provided two separate surfaces for note-taking, drawing, organizing and other productivity functions.

Microsoft eventually canned the idea, but a team of rogue developers weren't about to see their hard work go to waste. After banding together, two teams developed from ex-Courier creators have released apps for the iPad.

FiftyThree Inc. -- made up of many team members of the Microsoft Courier -- has released a new content creation suite for the iPad known as Paper. FiftyThree Inc. isn't the only band of ex-Courier developers that have tried to extend their work for Microsoft into success on Apple's iOS. Tapose, a project backed by another Microsoft Courier team member, has released similar app for the new iPad.

Both Paper and Tapose feature the look and feel of a productivity suite that was made for the Microsoft Courier. In both applications, the screen is meant to be used in landscape mode -- as if it were meant to be folded -- giving users the largest possible space to work on. Paper, as opposed to Tapose, works a lot like a digital notebook.

Paper is free in the App Store, but users need to purchase items within the app in order to get all of its functionality. Paper allows users to save a series of notebooks in the app and perform several different functions within the notebook such as painting, writing and drawing. Items such as brushes and colors cost about $1.99, so in the end, it's not that difficult to get all of the available features. The app works especially well with made-for-tablet pens.

Tapose embraces a few other functions that the Microsoft Courier was supposed to have. The idea for Tapose began with the hype around Microsoft Courier and its intriguing functionality, says a Tapose devleoper in the Kickstarter video that introduces the app. When it failed to launch, we decided to bring this functionality to the iPad. The app currently costs $2.99 in the App Store.

If you're interested in what having Courier-like functionality on your iPad might look like, peep the videos below.

Here's an introduction to Paper:

Here's an introduction to Tapose: