Microsoft has canceled its tablet project known as Courier, according to Gizmodo. The development team got the news from Big Redmond execs on Wednesday, though it had been thought that the company was near to producing a prototype of the device.

“At any given time, we’re looking at new ideas, investigating, testing, incubating them,” Microsoft said in a statement published by Gizmodo. “It’s in our DNA to develop new form factors and natural user interfaces to foster productivity and creativity. The Courier project is an example of this type of effort. It will be evaluated for use in future offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.”

In the concept state that was leaked to Gizmodo and Engadget in late 2009 and then again earlier this year, Courier was a two-display device that folded in the middle like a book. It was controlled by a stylus and used what was essentially a custom OS with its own interface and GUI concepts.

It was met with derision by many in the Mac Web, but also elicited praise and interest from some quarters. As of now, however, we won’t see how the device would fare against Apple’s iPad, tablet devices powered by Android, and other tablet products that will soon be in the market.

Courier Photo Leaked to Engadget