Microsoft offers sneak preview of smart watches

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Nov. 20, 2003

Microsoft provided a sneak preview of some of the upcoming "Smart Watches with MSN Direct," Tuesday night at COMDEX Las Vegas 2003, at the "Ready-to-Wear Wireless" fashion show. The watches, often referred to as SPOT wristwatches, are based on Microsoft's "Smart Personal Objects Technology" (SPOT), and are meant to be both fashionable and functional.

"Smart Watches with MSN Direct are a fun new way for people to get the information they care about delivered to an accessory they wear everyday," commented Cindy Spodek Dickey, Microsoft's group marketing manager for SPOT. "Being part of this high-energy fashion show is a great venue to illustrate how technology and lifestyle products can merge in exciting and innovative ways."

SPOT watches offer advanced features such as automatic time adjustment based on location, customizable watch faces, and access to continually updated content such as news, traffic alerts, weather reports, stock quotes, and sports scores, instant messaging, etc. -- plus, of course, all the capabilities you'd expect from a wristwatch such as chronometer, calendar, alarm, and timer functions.

Since the watches are fed data through an FM subcarrier that transmits weather, traffic, and other information over low-power FM frequencies, a subscription to MSN Direct is required. Watch owners can choose between two subscription plans: $9.95 a month with the first month at no charge; or $59 for a full year.

Originally slated to ship this fall, the watches on display Tuesday night will not hit stores across the United States and Canada until early 2004, the same time Microsoft plans to launch its MSN Direct broadcasting service that will transmit selected content to the watches.

Be sure to visit WindowsForDevices.com's SPOT watches special report to get the full scoop on these cool new gadgets created by Microsoft.

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