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Ahead of its Time: HP CTO teases interconnected “MetaWatch”

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As you may recall, back in August, HP CTO Phil McKinney was caught on camera playing with a trio of unnamed, unseen gadgets. Two have turned out to be the HP Touchpad and a phone that, based on size, is probably the HP Pre3. The third was an unnamed watch-like device, which turns out to be a watch with some connectivity magic tentatively called a “MetaWatch”. (Edit: misquoted as “Metal Watch”.)

In the YouTube video below (skipped ahead to the relevant part), McKinney shows off the watch, which could be a prop for all we know, and mentions that it can act as a hub of sorts for interconnecting other webOS devices and connecting to the cloud to “monitor and manage information”. Sounds cool, but I think it will run into a couple of adoption challenges.

First, wristwatches aren’t so popular now that almost everyone carries a phone that can show the current time. I learned nearly ten years ago that none of my peers from back home wear watches anymore (I don’t either). Second, a lot of kids don’t know how to read analog clocks, so if it’s ever released in however many years it takes, expect the first version of the Metal Watch to be digital.

6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. Zeuxidamas

    03/04/2011 at 8:19 pm

    Might want to consider its use in the business space. Most of us in the professional workforce still where watches, even it is just an accessory. If this watch had connectivity with a WebOS device that we used as our work phone, the watches utility might be (I emphasize might) compelling.

  2. Anonymous

    03/07/2011 at 7:29 am

    I’m a bit out of touch… are kids really losing the ability to read analog time pieces/clocks?

  3. VuLN

    03/12/2011 at 3:24 am

    Oh yes, this is what I’ve been waiting for. Thanks for the help! I hope you will post exciting imformation more.

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