Apparently there was a reason Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off an HP Slate and not a Microsoft Courier during his keynote at CES this year. Frank Shaw, senior vice president for Microsoft Corporate Communications, released a widely reported statement about the Microsoft Courier, which announced the killing-off of the Courier project.

“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. The ‘Courier’ project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time,” Shaw said in a statement.

The Courier, as the project was code-named, was intended to be a kind of digital, two-paneled journal/tablet. Many believed the eventual release of the device would increase competition in the tablet space and force a drop in iPad prices.

See below for a concept video of what the Courier could have been: