Home

Apple iWatch Vs. Smartwatches Past And Present

iWatch could change the mobile landscape, or it could end up as a redundant peripheral. Can Apple avoid the smartwatch flops of the past?
Comments | Thomas Claburn | February 15, 2013 11:11 AM

E-mail | Share

Blast From The Past

The Timex Data Link is one of the earliest examples of smart watches, dating back to 1994. Timex and Microsoft worked together to launch a watch that translated the data from bar codes displayed on Windows computer screens to the watch's memory. It was wireless, but without radio signals. The version seen here, the Datalink USB Dress edition, dates back to 2003. Those squares on the screen? No, they're not artifacts from a damaged LCD screen. They're part of a game called Invasion. Be thankful that computer graphics have improved since then.

Source: Wikipedia.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Google Chromebook, Chromebox: Visual Tour

Apple iWatch: 7 Reasons It Won't Fly

Apple Wants You To Dispense Cash

Apple Mac To Be Made In USA



Currently we allow the following HTML tags in comments:

Single tags

These tags can be used alone and don't need an ending tag.

<br> Defines a single line break

<hr> Defines a horizontal line

Matching tags

These require an ending tag - e.g. <i>italic text</i>

<a> Defines an anchor

<b> Defines bold text

<big> Defines big text

<blockquote> Defines a long quotation

<caption> Defines a table caption

<cite> Defines a citation

<code> Defines computer code text

<em> Defines emphasized text

<fieldset> Defines a border around elements in a form

<h1> This is heading 1

<h2> This is heading 2

<h3> This is heading 3

<h4> This is heading 4

<h5> This is heading 5

<h6> This is heading 6

<i> Defines italic text

<p> Defines a paragraph

<pre> Defines preformatted text

<q> Defines a short quotation

<samp> Defines sample computer code text

<small> Defines small text

<span> Defines a section in a document

<s> Defines strikethrough text

<strike> Defines strikethrough text

<strong> Defines strong text

<sub> Defines subscripted text

<sup> Defines superscripted text

<u> Defines underlined text

BYTE encourages readers to engage in spirited, healthy debate, including taking us to task. However, BYTE moderates all comments posted to our site, and reserves the right to modify or remove any content that it determines to be derogatory, offensive, inflammatory, vulgar, irrelevant/off-topic, racist or obvious marketing/SPAM. BYTE further reserves the right to disable the profile of any commenter participating in said activities.

Tune In to BYTE
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Newsletter RSS
Whitepapers
whitepaper
In this paper you will learn the five trends shaping the future of enterprise mobility. Learn how the rise of social media as a business application, the lurring between work and home, the emergence of new mobile devices, the demand for tech savvy employees and changing expectations of corporate IT will fundamentally change the workplace.
whitepaper
In a survey of more than 1,700 information workers (iWorkers) in North America, notebooks, desktops, and smartphones were found to be “must-have” devices, while tablets, slates, and netbooks were relegated to “nice-to-have” status, according to a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell and Intel.
Sponsored by: Dell
Upcoming Events