Microsoft Making “Windows Watch”?

There’s no doubt that the smartwatch niche is hot these days, with everyone and their mom jumping in the bandwagon, trying to outdo each other, not to mention to get “there” first. Now, it looks like Microsoft is joining the smartwatch game, with its not-so-recently filed patent for a smartwatch.

For the lack of a better name, let’s say Microsoft is looking to make a Windows Watch, given the smartwatch patent application released by the U.S. Patent Office. The date of the patent is way back in 2012, but it was only released last week. The abstract of the patent, which may lead to a Windows Watch, goes:

A personal information system is provided. The system may include a portable information device having a housing including a top surface defined at least partially by a display, a bottom surface configured with a central region in which an optical sensor, electrical connector, and data connector are positioned, the housing enclosing an internal volume in which a processor is provided, the top surface and bottom surface being coupled by a perimeter side edge extending therebetween, and a mounting structure formed at least partially around the perimeter side edge of the housing. The system may further include a frame, which may be connected to a band, the frame surrounding a void and configured to receive the mounting structure, the frame and mounting structure being releasably securable via a tongue and groove connection. The system may further comprise a dock to which the information device may be connected.

Titled “WEARABLE PERSONAL INFORMATION SYSTEM”, the patent basically shows Microsoft’s idea of a wristwatch that combines several functions together: music player, fitness tracker, phone, and messaging device.

That sounds like the ideal smartwatch that we’ve all been waiting for, yeah?

But how will the Windows Watch, if it ever sees the light of day, compete with what’s already in the market? It’s just a patent application, so we don’t really know what Microsoft will come up with, but we do know that whatever the device turns out to be, it will be playing catch up with the Pebble, the Galaxy Gear, and other smartwatches that are due to come out in the next months.

Have you been keeping tabs on the smartwatch niche? What do you think about Microsoft making its own Windows Watch?

[Image via U.S. Patent Office]