Microsoft Enters the Wearables Market With 'Band'

Microsoft has announced the availability of "Microsoft Band," a wearable device that goes on the wrist. It's designed to do health- and fitness-related tasks, like monitoring heart rate and how well a wearer sleeps, and its on-board GPS lets users map their run/bike routes. The company says Band plays nicely with iOS and Android devices in addition to Windows phones. It also has full support for viewing phone notifications and calendar alerts, and a built-in microphone enables queries through the Cortana personal assistant software. The display is rectangular, 11mm x 33mm (0.43" x 1.3"), and has a resolution of 320x106. They claim a battery life of 48 hours, with a charge time of 1.5 hours or less. The device costs $200.

Comments

I have one

[Anonymous Coward]

I picked it up yesterday. That means, to a certain extent, that yes, I'm a fanboy.

That being said, so far I love it. The sensors work great, and the pedometer does an eerily good job of differentiating between me taking a step vs me waving my arms around like I'm taking a step.

So yes, I'm sure the /. crowd will absolutely hate this device. But - as someone who has a windows phone and was wanting a fitness band - this is a first rate option.

Looks like the Samsung model - works with iOS

[gadlaw]

I liked the look and function of the recent Samsung model with the same rectangular screen and found that attractive but wouldn't get it since it didn't work with iOS and my iPhone. This one one looks like it takes care of that problem. Microsoft making something that works with iPhone out of the gate is a selling point and would seriously get me thinking to buy one. I run with my iPhone in my hand and keep track of my distance, speed and progress with the Nike+ on my iPhone and from what I've seen this unit. although it doesn't look like it has Nike+ working with it does look closer than anything else. Hey now, eventually there will be something that makes a fitness band/watch/smartwatch a must buy.

Kudos to MS

[sootman]

Try something new, play well with others, start small... I'm liking this. Go, Satya! Take that lumbering hulk of a company and do something with it besides coast.

Microsoft entered the market of Foo with Bar

[m2]

And objectively speaking, beyond their core product, which Bar has been a success? Arguably the X-box.

Windows phone? Nope.

Zune? Nope.

Surface? Nope.

Azure? Please, be serious.

WebTv? Nope.

Mice? Maybe, a long time ago, but not today.

Kin Studio? Nope.

Courier? Do you even know what this is?

Keyboards? Some people like them for some unfathomable reason. They are not unlike a myriad other keyboards out there.

Headsets? Nope.

Microsoft knows how to fail. That's good. Microsoft has a real issue with acknowledging they have failed. That's bad.

Re: hmm

[Rob Y.]

Not quite. Microsoft has an immensely profitable business selling software to customers - but the stock price already reflects that. The perverse thing about Capitalism in America today is that being a hugely profitable business isn't enough. To satisfy the investor class, you need to generate an ever increasing stock price. And for a mature company like Microsoft, that means finding new revenue streams. So, while they could continue indefinitely with their software for cash business model, what they're trying to do is to copy other companies' models in addition. They're not particularly creative, so when they enter the search market, they do it by copying Google's business model as well as their technology - with the same incentives to mine your data. To think that they don't do that simply because they make a lot of money selling software is pretty naive. If they don't mine your data now, it's because they're not successful enough, and they're still in the loss-leader phase of trying to break into the business. But they probably mine you anyway...