It was a big surprise yesterday when we learned about the Microsoft Band. This wasn’t a new activity tracker that was even on my radar and then to learn about it’s feature set was even more surprising. Instead of going into all the details which you can get at many other sites writing about it, I’ll simply give you the 3 distinguishing features that makes this tracker unique.
10 Sensors
Most activity trackers only have an Accelerometer. A few like Basis and Bodymedia add a heart rate monitor, galvanic response, and skin temperature sensors for a total of 4 sensors. Microsoft packed all of those and more for a total of 10 sensors into theirs which should have the capability of providing additional insights based on the data collected. The band is one of the few trackers that offers a GPS which will allow you to not be tethered to having your smart-phone track location separately in another app and Runkeeper already announced support to sync with it. Here’s the 10 sensors included:
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Optical heart rate sensor
- 3-axis accelerometer/gyro
- Gyrometer
- GPS
- Ambient light sensor
- Skin temperature sensor
- UV sensor
- Capacitive sensor
- Galvanic skin response
- Microphone
Smart Watch Functionality
This activity tracker also acts as a hybrid by providing some smart watch functionality which adds versatility. It of course has a clock but also provides a timer and stopwatch. It can also monitor email activity, see incoming calls and text messages along with notifications from Facebook and Twitter. It can also provide weather and finance data and even allow you to pay for coffee at Starbucks using it. Lastly the built-in microphone allows for voice commands with a Windows Phone but the band also works with iOS and Android apps but no word yet on how the microphone will integrate with them.
Microsoft Health Initiative
The band was announced in conjunction with Microsoft’s Health Initiative which much like Apple’s Health Kit and Google Fit has plans of becoming a repository for personal health data. This means that it’s a cloud service that not only will accept data from Microsoft products but other hardware and app partners it works with. The promise here is by having data from many different areas about us as they relate to health, Microsoft will be able to analyze and provide us with insights. This of course being the holy grail of of this burgeoning market and one that is recognized by these 3 top companies all vying to own a piece of the personal health data market that is growing so quickly.
Beyond the aforementioned Runkeeper and Starbucks, Microsoft has also announced partnerships with Gold’s Gym, MyFitnesspal and MapMyFitness. My thought is that Microsoft, Apple, and Google are battling to create personal data eco-systems and in the near future the features and partners available through each of them will be an important part of determining which hardware and apps you purchase.
I’m very impressed by what I’ve read and I’m pretty sure I will be getting the Microsoft Band to test and see if it’s worthy of replacing my current Garmin Vivofit. The Wirecutter is also impressed and will be testing it as well.
Learn more about the Microsoft Band at their site and The Verge posted some first impressions in a video here and some more initial impressions in a video by TechCrunch.
Having GPS built in is a good point, I think I kind of skipped over that when I read the announcement. One thing I was disappointed with in the Apple Watch announcement was that I was going to need to bring my phone with me on a run to have it record data.
I do not like to make predictions about what might happen in the technology world in an upcoming year, because I do not see any real purpose.
Instead, I want to put one company into the spotlight that I have especially high expectations in for 2015: Microsoft.
Microsoft has been struggling for years to stay relevant in an fast changing environment. Unlike some other old giants that were caught by the innovator’s dilemma and missed their chance to adapt and change, the lack of consumer interest has not caused the Redmond-based company too much headache yet. Thanks to its diverse product portfolio, its massive reach in the enterprise and b2b market, Window’s still huge share of the PC market (91.48 %) and some new hardware and cloud products, the company generated a recent quarterly revenue of $23.20 billion and an operating profit of $5.84 billion. So the money is still flowing.
However, what Microsoft has been lacking for a long time now is coolness. Ask younger generations about the devices and services they desire and passionately spend time with – there will be hardly any mentioning of a Microsoft product (with the likely exception of the Xbox). In the long run, that poses a big risk to Microsoft’s overall market potential. Because at one point, the aging IT buyers in companies and homes will be replaced by people who do not necessarily see Microsoft, Windows and Office as essentials if work needs to be done and tasks accomplished. In addition, having the choice, still very few people would prefer a high-end smartphone or tablet by Microsoft/Nokia over one by Apple or an Android-manufacturer.
Cool people don’t use Windows.
Thus despite the billions of profit, Microsoft really needed a change. In February 2014, that happened: Satya Nadella, until that point Microsoft’s head of the cloud computing division and enterprise business, replaced Steve Ballmer as CEO. Ballmer had been failing over and over again in getting the company fit for the mobile, connected, consumerized future. India-born Nadella does not follow Ballmer’s patterns of crazy on-stage performances and bold, sometimes way too confident quotes. I am not familiar enough with Nadella to comprehensively being able to describe his personality, but from his public appearances he seems to be more of a calm, well-reflected technology guy, not the Ballmer-type aggressive sales dude.
But what makes me really curious about the next months of Microsoft is not the leadership change itself (which more often than not does not bring any significant improvements to complacent technology companies), but the numerous moves that the company has made following Nadella’s appointment. Here is a list of some of minor and major actions that Microsoft announced under Nadella:
Acquiring Mojang, the company behind the massive game hit Minecraft for $2.5 billion. Minecraft is something like the digital version of Lego and extremely popular especially (but not only) with younger people.
Release of a cross-platform fitness and activity tracker called Band. Reviews were mixed. Anyway, it is currenty sold out (which could have to do with very limited supply). The launch of such a product itself was seen as a surprise.
Open-sourcing of the .Net core
Partnership with Dropbox that enables Dropbox users to edit office files from mobile devices.
Making major parts of the Office app for iPad, iPhone and Android free.
Giving away music albums for free as MP3.
Launching a beta of Skype Translator, a real-time translation add-on for Skype. It’s quite a sophisticated piece of software.
Accepting Bitcoin payments for some content in the Windows Store as well as in stores that house Xbox Games, Xbox Music or Xbox Video. No other tech company of similar size has made such a move yet.
Announcing plans of a new browser that will be released with the next version of Windows, Windows 10. Even though the newly created browser might turn out to be Internet Explorer 12 in disguise, a rebranding makes a lot of sense. Nowadays most conscious end consumers do not associate the IE with desirable attributes.
Acquiring Germany-based startup Hockeyapp. Its service lets developers beta test their apps on iOS, Android, and Windows.
Bringing a number of MSN apps on iOS and Android.
Buying the email startup Accompli for $200 million, provider of mobile email apps for iOS and Android, but not for Windows Phone.
Offering many Microsoft consumer services in one discounted subscription bundle for $199 (US only).
Partnering with fast-growing Swedish startup Truecaller, bringing Truecaller’s Live Caller ID to Windows Phone.
Announcing the official presentation of Windows 10 for January 2015, which is designed to work on PCs, phones, tablets and the Xbox One.
Now, obviously, this is just a list of at best loosely connected, sometimes isolated moves. However, while some of these actions are pretty conventional, my overall feeling is that this is not the Microsoft we have seen before. It seems as if the prioritization is shifting, away from the heavy marketing talk as the sole focus, towards more actual product advancements, cross platform support, openness and an aspiration for reaching lost user groups (e.g. young people, geeks, multiplicators).
I have no idea if the plan will work out. Changing a company from old thinking to new thinking means changing everything – strategy, processeses, organization, culture. Whether Nadella can pull that off or not remains to be seen. But looking at the list from above I find it safe to conclude that the Microsoft of the end of 2014 already acts and feels different compared to the Microsoft of the beginning of 2014. For a 40-year old company with more than 100.000 employees, that already is quite an achievement.
Photos: Flickr/ToddABishop; Flickr/derek7272, CC BY 2.0