Swatch Paparazzi, SPOT & MSN Direct

Picked up a cool new toy today. Been wanting one--a SPOT/MSN Direct watch--for a while, and decided after working my tail off for the last 8 weeks to reward myself with a little treat.

It's a Swatch Paparazzi (all black for me) watch, which incorporates Bill Gate's pet project--SPOT (Smart Personal Object Technology?)--and aided by a subscription to MSN Direct (more on this later), is just reinforcing my belief that eventually this will definitely eventually gain some mainstream consumer traction.

Reinforcing that belief, is the fact that the Paparazzi was my second choice; the first being a Fossil Square (with the same SPOT), but was completely SOLD OUT at the Fossil store here in San Francisco--with no idea of when the next supply would land.

What does this watch do? Well, on top of being a very functional watch (dual-time zones), calendar, chrono, two alarms, timer; it also reports personalized: weather (local & travel), stocks quotes & market reports, movie times at local theaters, news (local & int'l), sports scores (you select teams, leagues, etc.), and more! You can also download alternate "watch faces" to suite your taste or fancy--that is the "digital dial" so to speak that represents the main "time-reference" screen. There's a bunch of stuff, but your watch does have a RAM limit (express as "blocks" or "units" in the MSN Direct Service).

The watch runs about $150.00, which is on the cheaper side of the dozen or so SPOT-enables watches out there (also manufactured by Abacus, Fossil, Swatch, & Tissot). Then, there's the $39.95/year subscription to MSN Direct. It is by logging onto your MSN Direct "Account" that you "personalize" all the above-mentioned info. It used to be like $60/year, but to spur sales, I think MSN recently reduced it. You can also subscribe monthly for $9.95 if you're a little on the "slow" side (don't know who would want to pay $120/year).

Anyway, currently, my Paparazzi is "receiving" via FM radio signals my selected personalized information.

Currently, it is in "Glance"-mode, which tells time across the top of the screen, and glances through the headlines of info contained in my watch...right now:

- NBA: Jazz get Arroyoa back, put him in...
- Horse racing: Thoroughbred association...
- NASDQ -2078.62
- Readers speak out on Social Security
- Kerry on 2008: 'Not opening any doors,...'
- Rice's replacement known as...
- 83& Humidity (SF Bay Area)
- 6:51a Sunrise (SF Bay Area)
- Two more underwriters plead guilty...
- Hypersonice plane soars succesfully...
- Senator says money for new flu vaccine...
- 4:56p Sunset (SF Bay Area)
- DJIA -10487.65
- Tennis Hewitt rallies past Moya in...
- Golf: Diaz ends the year on a strong note...
- Baseball: Martinez meets Steinbrenner
- States have uncovered tip of...
- Barometric Down 30.15" (Sf Bay Area)
- Baseball: King Vlad: Guerrero voted AL MVP
- Mother arrested after boys...
- Rupert Murdoch's News Corp...

Pretty cool.

Oh yeah, the watch requires that it be charged every 2-4 days, though if you don't "play" with it much, the Swatch store manager indicates he gets away with 1 week before charging. The A/C charger is about the size of Nokia phone travel-charger.

I'll give more review in the next few days!

I have never heard of that SPOT technology - sounds interesting - maybe they just don't have it around here? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

K-T,

I don't think there are any plans for a European rollout yet.

In fact, the entire concept was languishing with poor sales and low consumer recognition until Swatch recently entered the marketplace with the Paparazzi.

It might take-off this Holiday Season, as the complete sell-out of all Fossil models may indicate. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I did a search and found some info - they seem to think about starting with the SPOT technology in Europe, too - maybe. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif