This is it. They’re calling it the clash of the titans. Well we are anyway.

Microsoft and Apple go head to head with their tablet PCs and there can be only one winner. Gates Vs Jobs, manno e manno. Bare-chested, pure adrenaline fueled fight to the end. Urrgh what a thought.

Apple iPad

Apple have thrown their hat into the ring with the iPad. The sexiest device ever conceived or the bastard son of an iPhone and MAC?

There are loads of review sites out there we I won’t bother you with our thoughts or opinions. Suffice it to say, you can do all the expected things such as watch movies, listen to music, surf the web and of course run any of the apps designed for the iPhone. Interestingly if the app is specifically designed for the iPad it simply upscales the images to fit the bigger screen. Expect to see many of your favourite apps designed specifically for the bigger screen making use of the extra real estate.

Microsoft Courier

Next up are Microsoft with the Courier. A bit late, but for once the train hasn’t quite left the station yet and there’s still time to get on.

Over the next few months things will become clearer and the gloves will come off. And this is the place to come to see a direct no-holds barred comparison of the two products of the decade. For now we have to make do with ‘leaks’, guesswork and wishful thinking. For one it appears that the Courier is ‘Digital Journel’ which we assume is a kind of electronic notepad. Maybe microsoft envisage us taking these things into meetings and scribling notes in e-ink, rather than using pen and paper. A great idea, and we handwriting recognition software you’ll walk out of the meeting with all your notes neatly typed up and filed away.
However if that were its only use we wouldn’t be talking about it would we? Of course it will play music, films, games, allow you to surf the web, and read e-books. And when you’ve finished with it you can fold it up and throw it in your handbag/manbag without a worry! Not like the iPad which no doubt you will have purchased a specially designed lovely iBag to shove it in (available from apple.com for under £100).

Well at this early stage it looks to us as though it really depends what you’re looking for. The Courier looks more like a physical book, and that could be the giveaway. Perhaps Microsoft are positioning the Courier more as an e-book reader, albeit with a camera!. The iPad however is more like a tablet PC without the physical keyboard - and don’t forget the million plus applications that are likely to be available for it, although I for one won’t be strapping it to my arm and running 10k with it using ‘runmeter’!.

Some have made an interesting distinction between the two, based on the profile of the intended user. The iPad for the player and the Courier for the maker. Which are you?