SPOT watches, R.I.P.: 2004 - 2008
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Apr 23rd 2008 4:48PM
posted Apr 23rd 2008 4:48PM
After a long, painful, nearly anonymous ride on the wrists of a select few uber-geeks, Microsoft's finally throwing in the towel on one of its longstanding pet projects: the SPOT watch. Those who've followed the technology recently (you know who you are) already know that the writing's been on the wall for some time; the applications and content available to the watches haven't been updated in ages, and indeed, the entire line of Abacus Smart Watch 2006 models -- the only type being recently offered -- has been discontinued and out of stock for a few months. For what it's worth, MSN Direct's program manager is quick to note that the underlying technology most certainly isn't going away; quite the contrary, in fact, with compatible Garmin and Windows Mobile products still going strong. Though your impetus may have been misguided and your fate sealed from the moment you hit the market, dearest wristwatches, your overwhelming nerdiness will be sorely missed. Oh, and for those of you who plan on sporting your piece of Microsoft history to the very bitter end, take some comfort in knowing that existing content types will continue to be delivered, at least.
NOOOOO! hugs spotwatch.
FAIL
So when will APPLE recreate the spot watch and gain critical acclaim and "ingenious design" praise?
ho ho, I would chortle like an ape-hound if that happened.
It doesn't even tell time
in SWATCH INTERNET TIME.
Or is it my fault to recall these sad memories of swatch?
Neither SPOT or SIT was successful.
my biggest problem with watches like this (that do something else) is that it means i have to wear the same watch all the time, whereas now i choose each day depending on a variety of factors.
See SPOT Die
Is it just me or did they spell stopwatch wrong?
Got mine the week it hit the shelves at CompUSA. Knew after 2 days it wouldn't last long :(
The watch or CompUSA?
"...existing content types will continue to be delivered." Until they aren't. Sort of like MSN Music from your story earlier today.
Tell me again, why should anyone be an early adopter for new Microsoft technology initiatives?
Because the Zune closest competitor to the iPod, looks great, has Zune Pass (all you can eat awesome), and five people at my work carry theirs with them, and we can send all the music we want, unlimited plays, because we all have ZP.
It's awesome, as long as your willing to buy into the system
and now Deep Koolaid by Brian Handy
Zune wasn't the first. MSN music store was, as well as portable media center devices. Both were combined and upgraded into the current Zune system.
@Brian
Don't bother, no matter how many Apple failures - Newton, Lisa, cell phones with iTunes [not the iPhone], Nike+iPod (do you know anyone that has one?), Apple TV, etc. - those dismal failures will be overlooked. But Microsoft failures, mean the company is doomed. WinMobile sells more in a quarter than iPhone has to date, and the iPhone is a wild success in their eyes, while WinMobile is a failure. OSX sales are abysmal compared to Vista, but to them Vista is a failure while OSX will take over the world. Zune Pass was useless until it was rumored that Apple was doing the same. Shadow copy is just a copy of time machine (even though Shadow Copy was out before). The Jobs © invented the MP3 player (even though there were many before it). Microsoft patents something, and it is blatantly obvious, ripping off prior art, and the Patent system needs to be thrown out, Apple patents something and they are just protecting their IP. Microsoft DRM system is evil, Apple DRM system is fair, and so on, and so on.
Oh, and if you point these out, you are just drinking the Kool-Aid, but the Apple fans, they only think for themselves and do not take their marching orders from The Jobs ©.
Nohone: Wow. Talk about Kool-Aid. I absolutely love how you MS fanboys are quick to jump in in defense of anything and everything Microsoft. The article was about the death of SPOT, not Microsoft. No one even hinted at the death of MS, yet you are quick to throw in some comparison between Apple's failures, which do not include half of what you said (such as Nike's product and Motorola's crappy ROKR), and Microsoft's failures, which mean "death".
What is more interesting is the Zune toss-in, which the previous poster felt the urgent need to discuss as well. Why do you guys always feel the need to defend your choice in buying the Zune? Do you honestly think anyone really cares? It's the #3 player in the portable player market, which is a great accomplishment within itself. But it doesn't really answer the question posed by Samurai, which is why would you buy into a new product knowing full and well that Microsoft shafted all of its previous (MSN Music) customers, in addition to those that have enjoyed their PlaysForSure music for so many years?
@Nohone
So If my laptop gets stolen, I can use shadow copy to retrieve my files from the external drive I plug in every night?
Oh wait...
shadow copy copies your stuff on the same drive as the original file.
@Bloobie:
So anybody defending Microsoft is wrong, but somebody bashing them is OK? Where are your comments telling Samurai that he should not be bashing Microsoft? Anybody says anything anti-Apple, and the rabid Apple fanboys attack, but anybody says anything wrong positive about Microsoft, and they are attacked? Typical double-standard of the Apple fanboys. Looking over your posting history, you have made posts defending Apple, but that is OK?
You ask why I need to justify my Zune purchase. I bought a Zune 1, and liked it so much better than my old iPod I bought a Zune 2. But, if you would have read Samurai's comment, he was leaving it open to **any** Microsoft tech, not just SPOT.
See, you are saying that Microsoft is screwing over their MSN customers, and yes, they have (**cough** FairUse4WM **cough**). But still the question remains, Apple has thrown their users under the bus with the tech I listed, but also how apps for OS 9 no longer work on OSX, drivers for earlier versions of OSX no longer work in Leopard, and more. But when Apple does it, the Apple fanboys yell that it is good, that people should have to upgrade and not use older tech when there is something better, and so on.
I just want to know when it involves Apple tech, screwing over the customer is OK,, but when Microsoft does it, it is wrong?
You seem to be arguing that I am trying to divert focus away from Microsoft's failures. But this article is about SPOT, the tech is still going to work (incorporated into other tech). Why did Samurai try to divert focus to the MSN Music, and not focus on what the article was about? Why did you not say something about that? Could it be because you Microsoft bashers need to stick together?
fanboys fanboys.
whatcha gonna do?
whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
@THJ:
And that is why you run system backups in addition to those shadow copies.
Haha, I have one. In fact, I'm wearing it right now. I got it about 2 years ago. Of course, my iPhone has made it almost useless. It's not a bad looking watch I'll probably keep it for a while.
Out, damned Spot!
It wasn't a half-bad idea, I suppose it was just poorly executed. I'm sure we'll see the concept return and catch on in a few years, when the time is right.
Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! Now I have to wear one of my 'normal' unsmart watches that simply show time and date.../sniff sniff. But seriously, this IS why it's irritating to embracing anything hardware from MS, though this is technically software....The watches would have caught on if they were cheaper and got updated more often.
I agree with a post I read...if Apple did it, it would have survived, because at least they do things with style. Plus, Mac people have no issues buying overpriced cr...gadgets.
Steve, please give SPOT some of your trendicine, please! I'll buy a Mac mini!
just like the 900mhz phone - great idea left to die. If it is ms hardware and not self contained like a keyboard or mouse, I ain't touching it now.
And that's a sad statement of affairs, considering I have bought MS hardware in past including:
Several natural keyboards, a few of their mice including a wireless one, several of the sidewinder joysticks (the first once, the forcefeedback one, the gamepad AND the force feedback wheel), several of the left hand sidewinder controllers, 2 of the voice pucks and the 900Mhz phone.
I loved that phone and they dumped its support almost as soon as they made it.
I considered the fingerprint reader, and then I realized it would need drivers and OS support, and frankly, MS just isn't trustworthy in that area as far as I am concerned.
The day the MS Natural Keyboard needs drivers is the day I buy a different keyboard. (until then, it is the only MS hardware I will continue to buy simply because they are such great keyboards)...
I wish I could get my phone working again
Microsoft still owes me one of those. Years ago they had a promotion giving them away. I just happened to have done the requirements and sent in the paperwork, but never got the watch!
(Not that I really cared; I don't like to wear watches and I figured the thing would be super lame anyway.)
Now what am I going to hand down to my grandchildren.
A prime example of a dot com product which the citizens of this planet can easily live without.
awww, what a shame. i've had one of these SPOT watches for almost 3 years now. granted, it's not an 'everyday watch', since it's big, heavy, ugly, and needs to be charged twice a week. but for looking up traffic while on the go, checking out movie showtimes, and getting some random news/stock data/horoscopes, it's not bad at all. and since you can change the watch's face/skin, it never gets too boring.
R.I.P., SPOT. you will be missed~
My Garmin Nuvi uses MSN Direct to get traffic weather etc... it works great. And its a much better use of the service then sending it to a wrist watch which to me seemed doomed to fail form the get go.
ROFL, wait! So Microsoft can build a watch, but there's no clock displayed on the Zune???
I sniff a former conspiracy...
It's still unknow if Microsoft can build a watch. SPOT watches will all made by watch makers. The only thing that Microsoft added to the watches is the technology to receive MSN Direct data. And there are only two MP3 players that have much use for a clock: the Samsung S5 and the iPhone. The only reason they benefit from a clock and speaker is so they can be used as an alarm clock. So without a speaker, there is no need for time keeping or an alarm clock.
That's a shame for the watches. Pretty cool tech. I have a Tissot High-T that I can't use anymore because the charger tip (the end you insert into the watch) broke and I wasn't able to get a replacement from anywhere. Tissot had retired the watch so I was stuck with a nice $600 paperweight :(
The service was only $60 for just about everything. It was a good deal.
What's sad is that if Apple did anything like this people would be calling it God's gift to earth, whether one sold or not. Because it's MS it's just another fuck up.
hi i'm james and i like to repeat tired cliche irrelevant i'm-the-victim fanboy memes
your microsoft fanclub certificate is in the mail
oh.... here's an even simpler translation of this meme
"well you know, there's this company out there called apple, and because they're not perfect, therefore all microsoft criticism == apple love. QED"
back to high school algebra witcha!
I'm a watch uber-geek (had early casio watch-calculators, the very elusive Casio scientific watch calculator, the Pac-Man watch, and I probably wore every version of a Casio data-bank watch with buttons and/or touch screen) Before SPOT, there were Timex Data Link (wireless!data!transmit!) that worked with Win95-98 (The 150) but died when XP didn't support a full version of DOS and CRT monitors gave way to flat ones.
I had The Timex-Pager-Data Link and it HAD everything the SPOT watches had... for free! (News feeds, Stock feeds, Weather, Sports Team calendars, had some programs for Golf players, changed time automatically in every time zone, battery life was decent (needed new batteries 3 times a year) had phone numbers and scheduled dates and (obviously) had a pager!) It was as bulky as it was awesome. So while naturally I would've gone for a SPOT watch when they came out, I didn't. Why would I? I was already getting more than SPOT would deliver. My current watch is the 2003 released USB Data Link that works with Outlook. (However, does NOT work with Vista and any later versions of Outlook) Before I had a WinMo phone, I kept my calendar/alerts/phones in my watch. SPOT would've been nice if one COULD add data to it and have it update wirelessly. But not sorry to see this one go. Even being a watch geek.
I'm a SPOT watch owner and wow I hate to see it fade away, but honestly, I'm not shocked. If someone at MS reads this, let me give you a gentle clue: Next time, give the owners a way to program to it. Ultra geeks are who buy this sort of thing, and if they could program to it well hey! now you've got a community! I love my Abacus, I just wish I could do more with it.
The SPOT watch is as bad as the .net CPU that was in it. I had the chance to play with the .net CPU, and it was horrible.
I am wearing my SPOT watch now and have used it daily since it came out. It's been great getting my stock quotes, sports scores, and accurate time with no intervention. This is a disappointment because it is great when traveling because the watch updated all the weather, news, and the time automatically when my plane landed.
Who under 40 even wears watches anymore?
Cell phones tell time and have alarms and are converged devices. Why bother with another watch?
because watches don't give you brain tumors after 10+ years of use...
My watch had it's last update on April 18, 2008 (I live in Toronto) , Is anyone still getting their news and weather? My watch still picks up a signal, just no data.