New SPOT watches from Fossil
By Phillip Torrone 
posted Oct 22nd 2004 2:45PM
posted Oct 22nd 2004 2:45PM
Okay, there are officially too many SPOT watches now, who would have thunk? Can you tell that this is Gates' pet project? Word is that Bill wants to see this tech succeed in a big way. Anyhow, SpotStop drops the docs on the new Fossil and Abacus models, which are going to go for $200.
Rubber and leather bands, out of the box content, slimmer design, inductive charging—seems like Fossil took notes
and responded to all the feedback from the early adopters. So hold off on that Swatch
we showed you until you see these. Expect these to come
out next week, and expect even more at CES.
[Thanks, Brian]
Hell, I want to see it succeed too! It's the first piece of "synchronisation" technology that doesnt require you to plug it into a PC at the start of the day, it's all done wirelessly and you dont even need a PC! I think SPOT could be the way to go.
Now, c'mon Bill, start wiring up those antennas in the UK...
If I squint real hard it almost seems like the one with the brown band has a color screen...what are the chances of that?
Of course, even if it did have a color screen I wouldn't buy it. Why bother when my cell does much better for less money?
Won't pay a monthly fee to use my watch.
I've had my Timex InternetMessenger watch for two years now. Combined with Yahoo's service I get all the same push content, appointment and calendar reminders, and my wife can send me important messages like "don't forget to buy milk" from her Blackberry - all for under $10/mo and on a watch that, though geekie looking, cost under $100. It's essentially an alphanumeric pager on my wrist that vibrates when it wants my attention, which is great when I'm in a meeting or at performance. Unfortunately, Timex has discontinued the model. So I see MSN Direct as a step back, not a step forward.
If their coverage weren't so sparse, they might have a chance.
1) While these watches look OK, some of us want a metal band or the ability to replace the band, if we prefer to buy one from Speidel or elsewhere.
2) Who will be the first to come out with the truly geek-friendly watch that has an API for getting the time/date/messages/whatever SPOT supports, a simple OS (Linux on a watch has been done anyway but it's overkill for what I'm talking about), and a development kit to let me build my own watch UI (User Interface for you non-geeks). Maybe even per-built UI that supports some form of scripting for those who don't want to get too deep. Not only would this sell quite a bit to the younger crowd, but the company could benefit from the evolution of the watch software.
This hasn't really ben covered in any reviews that I've read, but I know that SPOT watches can recieve IMs, but can they send them?