Interesting story.  What kind of plans does Microsoft propose to make this
technology accessible?

Pratik Patel


 During his Fall COMDEX 2002 keynote address, Microsoft Chairman and Chief
Software Architect Bill Gates briefly unveiled the company's Smart Personal
Object
Technology (SPOT) initiative, in which everyday devices such as alarm
clocks,
wristwatches, key chains, and even refrigerator magnets are made more
intelligent
through a new hardware and software platform that is small enough to scale
down
to the sizes required by such devices. The COMDEX keynote used a smart
alarm clock as an example. But by the time the 2003 Consumer Electronics
Show
(CES) rolled around in January 2003, Microsoft had much more to say about
SPOT and the types of devices we can expect to see, beginning late this
year.
This preview will discuss those details and my impressions of using a
prototype
smart wristwatch.
SPOT-on: An overview of the SPOT platform
Three years ago, Microsoft Research began looking into connecting everyday
objects and making them smarter. As Gates noted during his COMDEX keynote,
and
at least two other Microsoft representatives related to me privately the
week
of the 2003 CES, the company was amazed that word of the SPOT project was
never leaked. Originally, Microsoft Research spent several months simply
talking to customers about how everyday objects might be made smarter. That
information
was collated into scenarios in which technology could be applied
effectively--making the devices "better, smarter, faster, stronger, the
whole
thing,"
Microsoft Research's Bill Mitchell said.
What eventually became obvious was that the devices Microsoft would be
tackling
were typically even smaller than today's smallest palm-sized devices, like
cell phones and Pocket PCs. The devices would require a tiny, modular
OS--based
on Windows CE .NET, naturally--and a new wireless networking scheme that
would work virtually anywhere, at any time. And these devices should be
reasonably inexpensive.
For the first generation of SPOT devices, Microsoft is focusing on time
pieces
such as wristwatches and alarm clocks, which seems logical enough as these
devices are already designed to display critical information. But clearly,
the
technology can be applied to a much wider array of devices, and will be
in the near future. Before getting into specifics, consider what every
timepiece does today, which is tell time. Some timepieces add other
functionality,
such as alarms with snooze features, or perhaps a stop-watch feature.
A timepiece based on the SPOT will perform these functions as well, of
course,
but it will do so in an improved fashion. First, you will never have to set
the time or date on a SPOT timepiece as it will always know the correct
information. And the time, date, and correct time zone will adapt as you
move
around.
And it will always be accurate, as well, thanks to automatic wireless
synchronization. "It's atomic clock accurate," Microsoft Research's Roger
Gulranjani
told me.
Because this timepiece is based on SPOT, it will have other functionality as
well. For example, it will be personalized to understand the needs of your
schedule. If the traffic on your commute is particular heavy, the snooze
feature might be more insistent, perhaps, or it might let you know how much
time
you have before a flight leaves. The types of information it understands are
configurable, giving you a totally personalized device.
So far, I've been discussing SPOT and SPOT timepieces in generalities. At
the
time of Fall COMDEX 2002, this was pretty much all we knew about this
technology.
But with the arrival of CES 2003, Microsoft has released much more
information,
including details about the first generation SPOT devices, which will ship
later this year. Here's what I found out.
Watching more than the time
The first round of SPOT devices will be wristwatches. I suspect Microsoft
won't
appreciate this comparison very much, but the SPOT watches are basically
an evolution of the Timex Data Sync watches, which is obvious when you
consider
the functional similarities. And like the Timex watches, the first
generation
SPOT watches will suffer from a slight case of prodigious expanse. That is,
they're huge. Way too large for any woman, and too large for many men. That
said, I still think the first generation watches will see some success,
which
I'll explain below. But Gulranjani showed me his original, non-functional
prototype watch, which he used to woo watchmakers into the SPOT camp last
year.
While still larger than most watches, the size of the original prototype
is probably going to be desirable to a far wider audience than the watches
we'll see this fall. Microsoft is aware of this, and working toward making
them
smaller.
SPOT watches sport a 120 x 90 black and white LCD display, and a tiny bit of
Windows CE .NET silicon, along with the hardware needed to connect to
DirectBand,
Microsoft's new wireless network, discussed in detail below. Driving each
watch
is an ARM CPU running at 28 MHz, with 512 KB of ROM and 384 KB of RAM.
"That's four times the speed and 8 times the memory of the first IBM PC,"
Gates
noted. Natively, the devices run .NET bytecode, he said.
>From a usability perspective, the watches feature a "Glance Mode," which
can be
a standard watch display with time and/or date, or any other type of
information
you might configure. For example, you might configure your watch to display
the
time normally, using one of a dozen built-in watch face designs. But when
an event occurs--such as a sports game score, change in the weather, or
stock
price increase, the watch might alert you to the event with a little
vibration
or alarm. After you glance at the watch to see what's up, Glance Mode will
return to the normal time display.
"This is the next generation of what the watch should be," Gates said during
his CES 2003 keynote address. "You pick a channel, weather perhaps. It
handles
the time zone change and sends messages to the watch. It's been a while
since
watch technology has improved."
Users configure their watch with a Web page that includes personalization
features channels. The following channels were demonstrated at CES 2003:
List of 12 items
. Watch Face - Receive downloadable watch face graphics that change the look
of
your watch. Gulrajani told me that watchmakers would also be making their
own watch faces as one way of differentiating their products from
competitors.
. Messages - Receive personal instant messages on your watch. This wasn't
specifically addressed, but I assume integration with MSN Messenger is a
given.
. News - Stay informed with news pertinent to you and your location.
. Weather - Weather reports for your city, and cities all over the world.
. Sports -- Get timely sports scores, highlights, and news.
. Stocks - Continuous updates for just the stocks you care about.
. Calendar - View times and locations for events and concerts important to
you.
. Glance (mode) - Scroll through the information important to you without
pressing a button.
. Traffic - Plan travel routes based on current traffic conditions.
. Movies - Browse movies by title, location or time.
. Dining - Receive restaurant locations for your current location.
. Games - Puzzles, word games, and action games.
list end
The Web site also lets you manage your watch(es) under a My Watch section,
were
you will enter the unique ID number that accompanies the device. Also, you
manage billing information from the Web page. Yes, there's going to be a
subscription fee. I'll discuss that more in the Availability section, below,
along
with watch pricing.
"This is not a geek watch," Gates said. "It's a lifestyle device. It's
complementary to what we have already, but a sea change in functionality."
It
might
be complementary, but it's definitely a geek watch. For one thing, SPOT
watches
will need to be charged, like a PDA. However, Microsoft is looking into
ways to make this seamless for the user, and its possible that watch
companies
will include slick charging pads with their devices instead of a standard
charging cable. That way, you could lay your watch down on the nightstand or
table each night as usual, and it would be completely charged overnight. I
suspect we'll see more details about this process emerge by WinHEC in April.
Another possibility is solar power, Gulranjani told me. "The key thing with
battery life is the long weekend scenario," he said, "so we want a minimum
of
three days of battery life for these watches. Anything more is a bonus."
DirectBand: One wireless network to rule them all
SPOT devices wouldn't be too exciting on their own, especially if users had
to
manually connect to a Web site or an application to synchronize data. So
one of the primary goals of the SPOT initiative was to find some way to
provide
always-connected networking capabilities so that the devices could be
constantly
updated. The solution is pretty elegant: Microsoft has created a new one-way
networking protocol called DirectBand that adds data to the extra bandwidth
available on the FM radio signal. SPOT watches listen to FM frequencies, and
pull down the appropriate personalized data when it's available. Each
DirectBand
signal is encrypted with private/public key mechanism that's based on a
unique
identifier supplied with each watch. Even Microsoft doesn't have access
to the user database, Gulranjani said, since those numbers will be applied
at
manufacturing. The end result is that only your watch can get your
information.
If you lose the watch, just go to the Web site and turn it off.
One hilarious feature the company is considering is a constant alarm that
can
go off if the watch is stolen: That way, the watch is not only useless to
whoever steals it, but annoying as well. Gulranjani told me that Bill Gates
actually came up with this idea during an SPOT update meeting last year.
Another side-note about DirectBand: The network has been in place for months
in
several US cities so that Microsoft employees and testers can test the
watches
and services. Because Las Vegas is one of those cities, we were able to get
live updates from the real working service while at CES.
Availability
The SPOT watches offer exciting functionality but seem somewhat limited by
their size. Microsoft, however, says it's aware of the problem, and through
testing
with over 4000 consumers, they've established that a healthy market exists
for
the first generation devices. The target market includes three main customer
groups, two of which, trendsetters and young mobile achievers, fall into the
critical 18-35 year old age range. The third group, sports enthusiasts,
transcend
age limits and may just constitute the largest market. As a New England
Patriots season ticker holder, I appreciate the need to get constant score
updates
from other games when you're at the game. And as Microsoft told me, NFL
Football is indeed the number one sport in this country, and over 12 million
people
play Fantasy Football every season.
Another issue, of course, is content providers. Microsoft is working now to
attract more content providers to the platform and will make more
announcements
over the year. One thing the company won't be doing is opening SPOT up to
all
developers, and you won't see a SPOT SDK on MSDN any time soon. That's
because
of the protected nature of DirectBand and the unique identifiers given to
each
watch owner. Companies interested in developing for SPOT will need to work
directly with Microsoft.
The primary issue, however, is cost. Microsoft told me that SPOT watches
will
cost "$130 on up," and it's conceivable that some high-end watches could
cost
thousands of dollars. Companies such as Citizen, Fossil and Suunto have
signed
on to make a wide variety of SPOT watches, each which will target particular
markets. Another question is the monthly service fee, and yes there will be
monthly service fee. Microsoft hasn't yet worked out this issue, but it's
possible
that certain services will be free, while others are value-adds. That's just
speculation on my part, however, and Gulranjani didn't offer any concrete
plans, other than the admission that the company was still unsure who would
even eventually provide the services.
"As a core attribute, the watches will always tell time," Gulranjani told
me.
"If you drop the service or are temporarily out of range, it will still
work.
The customer shouldn't know if they're in or out of range. Instead, it's
seamless, and not like a cell phone. The information is always there. If
you're
online, its downloading. If you're offline, it's still there."
Conclusions
To prove how useful these devices can be, Gulranjani asked a pointed
question
during our interview. "Just try finding the weather in Seattle on your cell
phone right now," he said. "Can you do it?" He then held up a SPOT watch
prototype, hit a few buttons and laughed, "Huh. It's 55 degrees and
drizzling.
Go figure." Microsoft realizes that SPOT watches won't replace cell phones,
but
they are a new way of getting personalized information to your wrist,
quickly
and easily. And based on my first look at these devices, I'm impressed with
the
technology and a little reticent about the size, though again, I don't
think this will be a problem for sports enthusiasts, especially skiers and
participants in various extreme sports, who want just a quick glance at time
and other data before moving on.
So will SPOT be successful? Yes, I think so, though the first generation
watches will see little impact on mainstream consumers. But it's clear that
SPOT
is here to stay, and an almost mind-blowing capabilities expansion for the
sorts of everyday products we frankly don't think much about normally.
--Paul Thurrott
January 16, 2002
Steve Pollo
Lansing, MI



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