OK I have own some pretty nice watches including a Longines, a Patek Philippe pocket watch I got from my grandfather(heck I still have my first watch as a kid a Star Wars LED watch by TI), but the ones I wear everyday and just love are the MSN Direct SPOT watches. I received an email from one of our readers that they read over at SPOTStop in a post by Jon Canan, program manager of Microsoft MSN Direct unveiled, that SPOT watches have been discontinued, but the MSN Direct service will remain. The last model to be sold as a SPOT watch is the Abacus 2006. I just recently renewed my service in March and got one of these as a retention gift. (I have been using MSN Direct since the beta). It's a nice watch with very easy to press buttons. Its a shame that further development was halted, some really cool watches with multi-color displays mentioned a few years back would have been great for some really cool designs as well as a possibility of wallpaper and photo sync with a host computer. The current MSN Direct client for Windows Mobile is cool, but needs some programming refinement and a version for touch screens (which is currently in internal testing and will be out soon!), but its good to see that the service and infrastructure will continue.
Here is what Jon had to say:
'As of recently, the Smart Watches with MSN Direct have sold out and are no longer for sale. While we continue to move forward with MSN Direct and seeking out new opportunities for devices that would benefit from the MSN Direct service, we, along with our watch partners, do not have immediate plans to create a new version of the Smart Watch, as we are focused on other areas of our business. We will maintain support of our watch customers and continue to deliver information to the watches, but we do not plan to increase our investment in the watch business going forward.
We have appreciated all of the comments and feedback that the SPOTStop community has provided – and this feedback has been incorporated in every step of the way as we develop new products and leverage our assets within the MSN Direct service. We are proud of the new products that have incorporated our technologies – MSN Direct for GPS navigation devices and MSN Direct for Windows Mobile, and it is encouraging to think that these grew out of the Smart Watch initiative – demonstrating great traction for Microsoft. We will continue to engage with this community and welcome any questions you may have.'
For the rest of the conversation head over to SPOTStop. It's a sad day.
(Note: to get the latest updates on MSN Direct for Windows Mobile you can sign up here.)