LAS VEGAS — Handheld devices like PDAs have drawn the bulk of technology consumer interest in recent months, but Microsoft Corp. soon will have a device packed with information for a nearby body part.
Bill Gates, the company's chairman and chief software architect, said Wednesday that Microsoft is working with three other companies to produce a wristwatch that will literally change the face of watches.
The device, to be ready for consumers this fall, will use connectivity technology to allow users to check traffic reports, sports events, weather forecasts, stock prices, news, movie listings and other information and receive messages, too.
Oh, yeah, and tell time.
The announcement came in the keynote talk prior to the International Consumer Electronics Show.
Microsoft will provide the brains of the operation; the other companies will provide the watch style.
"These three partners share a vision — a vision that the watch will go beyond time, to timely information," Gates told the crowd at the annual trade show.
He said the "glanceable" information would be constantly updated. The info would be up to the user, who would customize its features on a regular PC.
"The device itself is simple," Gates said. "It's just to display information."
The watches — with four times the speed and eight times the memory of the original IBM personal computers — are an example of how technology is being placed in more "natural" devices and providing users with information they want, he said.
Those "smart personal objects" will "work throughout the home environment — not just devices that would do the same thing for everyone, but devices that would understand the things you're interested in and the things you care about."
The tech world is witnessing a convergence of smart devices, connectivity and services as broadband, wireless, screen and memory advances abound.
"In many ways, over the next decade that we refer to as the 'Digital Decade,' many of the predictions that were made and (people) said would happen only a few years ago will finally be taking place, but they'll be taking place because all of these pieces will come together," Gates said.
He said people are underestimating that convergence. "As they've seen some of the dot-com promises not come true, I think they're missing the fact that the basic technologies are moving forward, the new platforms are here and . . . the Digital Decade will be a reality."
Steve Guggenheimer, senior director at Microsoft, led a demonstration of what convergence may bring. A video phone on a PC will provide pictures of callers, family schedules will be shared on the PC, children's homework will be done on tablets or other electronic devices. Even refrigerator magnets, using the same technology as the new watches, will sport restaurant specials, school information and weather reports on their tiny screens.
"As we move into the future, it's going to be easier to seamlessly go between the screens we want to choose, so whether it's my watch, the phone, the TV screen here or the PC, we'll be able to use the right screen for the right context and move very seamlessly between them," Guggenheimer said.
The technology also will provide more interaction possibilities, such as a remote parent accessing a homework page to help a child with school duties.
Gates said people often view devices as replacements for others, such as a cell phone or TV substituting for a PC.
"In fact," he said, "our view is that we need to get these devices working together."
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