Microsoft's Abacus Smart Watch

A number of products, that are named "smart" don't often deserve the distinction.

The smart car, while stylish, packs no more intelligence then any other car on the road today.

Now, in the same vane, Microsoft Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) initiative, which has promised smart products for a number of years now has launched the Abacus Smart Watch for MSN Direct.

So, does this watch deserve this tag line?

According to UPI,

......the ABACUS Smart Watch 2006 has a thinner bezel and more stylish bands from Fossil Inc. but also doubles the storage capacity of previous watches and improves upon download speed of content from MSN Direct Channels, [   ]... which includes news, weather, sports scores, movie times, traffic and horoscopes, among other things. For $20 more per year consumers can receive MSN Messenger personal messages and Microsoft Office Outlook calendar sync, according to Microsoft.

"This new generation of Smart Watches gives wearers greater choice, convenience and value," said Eric Lang, general manager of the SPOT initiative at Microsoft.  "With the ABACUS Smart Watch 2006, we not only refined the aesthetics, but also significantly enhanced the technology within the watch and are pleased with this latest extension of the SPOT vision."

So does this watch deserve to be called "smart" because of its intelligence?  Or is it just stylish ?  You'll have to be the judge.

© 2005-2006

Walter Derzko

Expert, Consultant and Guest Speaker on emerging Smart Technologies, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "

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Comments

[Juno888]

I thinks abacus is an acient name to calulate numbers..?