You Won't SPOT These Anymore
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News Brief. MSN Smart Watches are going the way of Windows CE for Smart Displays. |
In a post on the SpotStop forum, MSN Direct Program Manager Jon Canan wrote, "we, along with our watch partners, do not have immediate plans to create a new version of the Smart Watch," and, yes, the watches "have sold out and are no longer for sale."
The Smart Watch was one of those nifty ideas that simply couldn't gain traction. The idea: Use FM transmitters to send news, weather and other information to the watches, using a technology Microsoft calls SPOT (Smart Personal Objects Technology). But like Windows CE for Smart Displays, Microsoft and its partners couldn't get the hardware right—and the timing was wrong.
Smart Displays were portable LCDs that could be carted around the home while wirelessly connected to the PC. Between Microsoft's announcement and first product releases, mainstream LCD display sizes exceeded the maximum target size of 15 inches. Meanwhile, portable prices dropped to around the same price as a Smart Display. Why not buy a whole computer for the same price? Smart Displays never sold well, and Microsoft killed the project.
Smart Watches had surprisingly similar problems. The early watches were big and costly. Particularly from 2006 on, a cell phone bought or received for free had the same data capabilities. Why should people carrying cell phones also pack a bulky watch?
Example: After Swatch released some colorful Smart Watches, I showed them to a bunch of teenage girls. The reaction: Who needs a watch? They had cell phones.
I was a fan of Smart Watches and see one way they could have succeeded: as jewelry. But Microsoft and its manufacturing partners never seemed to find the right balance of size and style.
SPOT will continue for Windows Mobile phones, GPS devices and maybe even coffee makers.
Comments (10)
I agree with the second to last paragraph. I was never attracted to the product at all. I have copy of The Economist with Bill Gates showing it off on his wrist. The user interface is what turned me off in particular, it does not use a color screen for one.
Also, ever since I got my first cellular phone back in 2004, I stopped wearing a wrist watch and I always have my laptop with me and I am always listening to radio which gives me up to date news and weather information.
So for me the technology was dead from the get go. The technology itself will probably be more relevant in Windows Mobile devices and GPS as you mentioned.
Posted by Andre Da Costa | April 23, 2008 9:52 PM
@ Andre
Is it framed? The picture of Bill; Do you have it framed?
Posted by portuno | April 23, 2008 11:35 PM
Flashback 2001: Apple introduces the iPod and bets on a broadband future with portable multimedia devices. The genius bank at MSFT bets on portable devices using a data link roughly equivalent to a 600 baud modem.
Tell me again why anyone still invests in this company?
Posted by Jose | April 24, 2008 12:38 AM
Dude,
Dick Tracy is sooooo uncool! We don't need no stinkin' wrist weights!
Posted by Nick Woodson | April 24, 2008 12:05 PM
@Jose:
what did you expect from a CEO & company that thought the internet was a passing fad & thus "wasn't interested in it."?
if msft were really interested in the future, they'd demolish windows & rebuild the thing from the kernel up.
Posted by Al | April 24, 2008 12:10 PM
Joe Wilcox you are an idiot.
Posted by Peter Jones | April 24, 2008 12:40 PM
I was wondering why I can't find my favorite "Microsoft Bob bumper sticker" or my favorite "Windows Millennium coffee mug" anymore.
Posted by Ralph | April 24, 2008 4:13 PM
@portonumbnuts/I-Menst
Do you have your first VCSY stock certificate framed?
@Andre Da Costa
Got what you mean about not wearing a watch anymore. I didn't even make a conscious decision not to wear one. Just one day I noticed I didn't have one on my wrist and realized I hadn't for quite some time.
Posted by Tom Berber | April 24, 2008 5:57 PM
When you love someone, it' s nothing. When someone loves you, it' s something. When u luv someone & they luv you back, it'
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Gift cards can come preloaded or you can load them yourself. Many businesses carry a variety of preloaded cards in common denominations. Others let customers put however much they want on a blank card.
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