Los Angeles — Curtain will fall down on yet another Microsoft product. Microsoft has placed a notice on its MSN Direct Web site informing users that the company will shut down its MSN Direct, Microsoft’s data disseminating network, is to be switched off in 2012, leaving literally dozens of users bereft of updates and another Microsoft initiative in the dust.
According to the post, “MSN Direct service will be available only until January 1, 2012, terminating the company’s half-decade penetration into wireless consumer electronics and demonstrating that mobile telephone networks can provide for every kind of connectivity”.
However, customers can continue to reap the full benefits of MSN Direct, along with service and support, up until that date. Pro-rated refunds for unused portions of existing One-Time Payment and other subscription plans will be automatically credited after January 1, 2012.
MSN Direct is a service incorporated into some GPS devices that is most often connected with Microsoft’s Smart Watch program. That program was the first to use the MSN Direct service to send information like news headlines, stock quotes, weather and traffic information to special wristwatches.
GPS makers Garmin and Pioneer sell a range of devices that can receive MSN Direct data. MSN Direct also uses FM radio frequencies to deliver traffic data, weather, stocks, movie times and various other similar informatio, but Microsoft said there are better ways to send such information today.
“Leveraging unused FM radio spectrum to broadcast data represented a step forward in 2004, however, many choices today including Wi-Fi, cellular, FM RDS [Radio Data System] and other digital networks are now readily available and are continuing to grow in popularity,” according to the MSN Direct Web site. “Despite good initial MSN Direct adoption, these alternatives have significantly reduced demand for MSN Direct service.”
On its website, Microsoft attributed MSN Direct’s inability to keep up with the times as part of its decision to close it down.”The delivery of location-based services in the US and Canada has evolved since Microsoft began offering MSN Direct in early 2004,” it said.
The last SPOT watches were sold in April last year, which is a shame as wristwatches seem to be rolling back into style lately — though it is still hard to imagine reading news headlines on them.
Bill Gates, Microsoft’s founder, seemed to be a big fan of the watches, launching the program at the Consumer Electronics Show. In 2004 after MSN Direct first launched, a Microsoft executive said there were thousands of people subscribing to it for their watches. However, the Smart Watch never took off.
Garmin did not immediately reply to a request for comment on whether it will try to replace the MSN Direct information service. Microsoft said products that support the service will continue to be available “for some time.”