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Microsoft to launch service for smart wristwatches | |
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| Time: 13:50 EST/18:50 GMT | News Source: The Kansas City Star | Posted By: Todd Richardson | ||
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Microsoft Corp. plans a new service to deliver weather, stock quotes, instant messages and other data to customers via high-tech wristwatches.
The service, MSN Direct, will cost $9.95 a month with the first month free or a year's service for $59. It will be available this fall in more than 100 North American cities, including Kansas City.
It's part of Microsoft's Smart Personal Object Technology initiative, announced last year, in which devices can receive and display information broadcast over a portion of the FM radio spectrum.
Microsoft is working on the technology while watchmakers Fossil and Suunto are developing the smart wristwatches, with many priced at $150 to $300, said Chris Schneider, SPOT program manager. Users customize the information they want sent to their watches by going to a Web site.
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| #1 By 1868 (141.133.144.28) at 6/15/2003 2:27:56 PM |
| Wake up Microsoft this is going to FLOP, very few people will spend money on a subscription for a watch. Make the basic features free, like weather and instant messanges and then charge for the stock quotes. This is upsetting seeing how I wanted to buy one of these watches, but I won't if it's subscription based. |
| #2 By 1868 (141.133.144.28) at 6/15/2003 2:31:26 PM |
| That or hears an idea, incorporate the watch into an MSN package. Sure for $19.99 a month I'll keep my MSN acount and I'll get the watch. But 9.95 a month is outrageous. Maybe something like $.95 a month as an additional charge. Its a watch, not a freakin' cell phone. |
| #3 By 1868 (141.133.144.28) at 6/15/2003 3:45:42 PM |
| Do I have to sign an EULA? Will there be free service packs? It better damn integrate into Outlook! |
| #4 By 135 (208.50.204.91) at 6/15/2003 4:30:56 PM |
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Yeah, there are very few people who are willing to pay $9.95/month for a gimmick.
You have to bundle these things together with other services... maybe offer it through cell phone providers for an extra $3/month or something. |
| #5 By 135 (208.50.204.91) at 6/15/2003 4:36:12 PM |
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I still want my T-Touch watch.
http://www.t-touch.com/prima.htm A thermometer, altimeter, barometer and compass are far more important than stock quotes! :) |
| #6 By 3653 (209.149.57.116) at 6/15/2003 6:30:56 PM |
| $10/month is CHEAP for the early adopters. They typically pay a premium. And when they are ready for millions of subscribers, they will bundle it... dont worry. |
| #7 By 1896 (208.61.156.30) at 6/15/2003 6:37:46 PM |
| I agree with Soda, I could pay some money, although not $10/month, to have these services delivered to my cellular phone which should also be able to integrate with Outlook. It would be ineresting to see what kind of data make MS people think a service organized in this way could be succesful. An object I would buy right away is an integrated watch/smartphone with a bluetooth handset. |
| #8 By 1868 (66.228.94.190) at 6/15/2003 6:46:57 PM |
|
Fritzly,
My eyes are glazed over about the watch/smartphone idea and bluetooth.......bestill my beating heart, we'll never see it and I don't know why, its a real shame MS has messed up the smartphone area and this watch thingy will be in its grave before long. |
| #9 By 931 (66.156.4.113) at 6/15/2003 7:40:59 PM |
| Will be a flop... just like that datalink crap they tried some years ago. |
| #10 By 135 (208.50.204.91) at 6/15/2003 9:58:11 PM |
|
KnightHawk - LOL! I actually have a Timex Datalink watch I bought back in '96. I wouldn't call them a failure, as they sold quite a few. The PDAs replaced them with more functionality.
You couldn't enter anything into them, but you could synch them up with Outlook and have your days schedule programmed into your watch, along with phone numbers. At the time it was very convenient for me to use at work, it just wasn't very stylish. :) ComputerExpert - I pay 5 cents to send messages, receiving them is free. |
| #11 By 1896 (208.61.156.30) at 6/15/2003 10:58:13 PM |
| Zeo01 I am not 100% positive about it but if I remember correctly few years ago AT&T was offering a watch/cellular phone. Surely it wasn' t very popular because it is gone for good. I like the smartphone concept, once it will work as expected I will drop the PDA for one of them. |
| #12 By 7390 (198.246.16.251) at 6/16/2003 8:41:49 AM |
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I think that most people has hit the nail on the head in noting that this service cost too much. Yes, early adopters do pay a premium but wouldn't there be more early adopter if this thing was dirty cheap and or bundle with ISP service to cover the cost. Personally speaking I would never pay for something like this,not for my watch. Heck, I even hate paying for mobile text messages.
With every device these days having web connectivity and the impending advancement of web services into our daily lives I don't want to start paying a free for every devices to receive data. |
| #13 By 116 (66.69.198.173) at 6/16/2003 9:41:57 AM |
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Well it looks like I am in the minority here but I think you guys are totally wrong. These new watches totally play to the higher end customers of watches (which is a niche market). I currently have a Suunto watch and they make great watches.
Check em out www.suunto.com . I am definitely looking forward to these and will be purchasing them. I don't think this is going to flop at all. So we'll see what happens this fall. |
| #14 By 2459 (69.22.78.116) at 6/16/2003 10:24:29 AM |
| Looks like most people missed the yearly price. If you pay by the year, it's less than $5/month. That's lower than the cost of some cell phone services that offer this type of info. |
| #15 By 1896 (208.61.156.30) at 6/16/2003 10:43:32 AM |
| #16 Because what happens if you realize that the service does not work the way you expected or it does not fit your needs? Can you get your money back? |
| #16 By 2459 (69.22.78.116) at 6/16/2003 10:46:09 AM |
| You should be able to use your free month to figure out if the service is what you expect it to be. If it is, pay for a year. If not, cancel the service. |
| #17 By 3653 (63.162.177.143) at 6/16/2003 12:08:02 PM |
| Hmmm... 3 of 20 replies were positive. If only half that percentage (15%) holds... thats a huge new revenue source for Microsoft. |
| #18 By 12071 (203.217.72.159) at 6/16/2003 12:11:02 PM |
| #20 heheeh couldn't resist. Trying pressing all the buttons at the same time and then release, that shoul reboot it, if that doesn't work, remove the battery completely and try a cold boot. |
| #19 By 3339 (65.198.47.10) at 6/16/2003 1:38:46 PM |
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7.5%? of geeks? Within the 20 cities in North America with coverage? That would wear a digital watch? That don't already have a free service that provides quotes, weather, and sports? Or need such a service? ... Now, you're talking about .5% of their "normal" markets.
And this isn't going to be a cheap network to maintain... They need to get those magnets and alarm clocks and other devices out. They need to rationalize a new market to justify the cost of maintaining this spotty network. If it's only watches for any substantial time, this is bound to be a huge failure. (I'm not saying it will be. I think the other devices are much more compelling than the watches. I think it's only compelling if the network is much more complete and international. There's potential, but right now this concept looks like a whimpering dog.) |
| #20 By 3339 (65.198.47.10) at 6/16/2003 6:52:52 PM |
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"I'm not sure I follow what bearing international coverage has on your own personal investment in MSN Direct, sodajerk?"
Because the only value I see in this is for the business/hardcore traveler. I am very concerned about how limited the initial rollout is. It's small. And I bet coverage isn't great in all areas of those cities. So you are talking about an immature service that isn't going to be omnipresent for the customers who most desire it (and omnipresence is probably the main reason for desiring it in the first place). I will still get local news, weather, sports, etc.. from other sources. I'd rather ask a dude on the street, "did the Giants win?" than pay $5 bucks a month. I have no need to check stocks everyday, but even if I wanted to they're on my home page--I took over three weeks of vacation recently in the Caribbean--I still saw my homepage 4 times, no gap greater than 5 days. So from my perspective the only value is for someone who is travelling frequently and wants to be automatically updated with the local downlow without accessing a hard connection to the web... But the fact is it's hardly going to work anywhere. I would question your view that it isn't costly. I am aware that radio transmitters are rather economical, but considering they've been building this for over a year while using existing transmitters and other partners, but have only come up with a limited coverage is indicative to me of either: 1) fear that this will be a failure, 2) cost prohibitive, 3) difficulty in building the network, or 4) all three. And note: these costs don't disappear, they aren't one time--they are mostly renting spectrum and bandwidth from the radio companies. "Back to the watch...It is the most obvious lo-tech item that people carry around with them everywhere..." Funny, I was just pointing out the other day to a friend that he, I, and two other of our friends no longer wear a watch because of our cellies. We don't carry them anywhere no more... We were describing the end of the wearable wristwatch as an era simialr to that of the pocket watch... from church bell, to town clock, to home timepiece, to pcoket watch, to wristwatch, to bye-bye... or rather network-syncronized time display on any number of personal digital device. This post was edited by sodajerk on Monday, June 16, 2003 at 18:55. |
| #21 By 3653 (209.149.57.116) at 6/17/2003 8:18:14 PM |
| if Microsoft sold all you can eat gourmet meals for $2/month... sodajerk would be complaining. Ignore the idiot. |
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