Microsoft wearable

Microsoft smartwatch patent application emerges

Details of Microsoft’s own foray into the smartwatch sector emerged this week after a US patent application was published online.

The October 2012 application detailed a ‘wearable personal information system’ that included an information unit with a display that clips into a wristband and provides biometric monitoring, media playback and phone integration. The smartwatch design is dockable and features a touchscreen.
It is not known if Microsoft is currently pursuing the design or has an active smartwatch project but it shows that a concept was in place nearly two years ago.

The design’s detachable principle is not too dissimilar from Microsoft’s first smartwatch project which was the first commercially available ‘wearable’ on the market.

Microsoft was ahead of the time in 2004 when it released the SPOT (Smart Personal Object Technology) platform which saw small, monochrome LCD screens built into various household devices. Manufacturers including Swatch and Fossil used the platform to create the first smartwatch products. The screens received limited data including email synchronisation via FM-radio broadcasts.

James Buttery

Editor of WatchPro, the WatchPro Hot 100 and The Luxury Report.

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