Many companies have already jumped the Smartwatch bandwagon and Nokia was also about to dive in with its own version, but Microsoft killed it soon after it acquired Nokia, it has been revealed.
According to a report on The Verge`, Nokia’s Moonraker smartwatch didn’t make it to the market because Microsoft already had plans about its wearable Band. Though the Moonraker smartwatch had a lot more sensors that would have provided for features such as lift your arm to read texts or drop it to turn off the display, Redmond had already made up its mind and opted for the Band instead as it had more functionality.
The report further added that Nokia had opted for Microsoft’s “Metro” interface from Windows Phone and had features such as email, phone, and messaging apps on its smartwatch. Further, it also had camera remote feature that would have enabled users to take pictures on a smartphone from the watch.
While Nokia may have envisaged Moonraker in the initial days of smartwatch boom, Microsoft may have rightly culled it because the smartwatch basically didn’t have any novel features and most of the features were same as other smartwatches.
We do not believe that Microsoft will be launching the “Moonraker” as it is already working on the second generation of its Band, but it would be nice to see something unique from Microsoft this time around.
I actually would have liked one of those. The other smart watches seem as dull as dishwater but these are nice. C’mon Microsoft, I don’t want a fitness band thing I want a nice watch that will last years and look cool. Moonraker 2 maybe?