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Fossil has taken down its online stores dedicated to Palm OS and SPOT wristwatches. Although the hip watchmaker hasn't totaly given up producing PDA watches—reportedly it will continue to sell Abacus-brand SPOT watches through retailers—this turn of events is the most ominous sign yet for the struggling technologies.

Neither type of watch performed well in the marketplace, it appears. While most people are happy to carry around handhelds, smartphones and cell phones that provide the same type of data and automated information updates as these watches, it may have been hard to convince all but the earliest of adopters (see our review of the Wrist PDA) to give these rather bulky timepieces a go.

These high-tech watches were heirs to the original Wrist PDA and Wrist PDA/PC, even bulkier models that didn't run either the Palm or Pocket PC OSs, but only allowed users to download data from a handheld to their watch via infrared. That's one portable to another.

Palm Watch
Fossil re-introduced the Wrist PDA as a mini-Palm platform handheld for the wrist at the now defunct COMDEX Fall 2002 trade show, winning " Best of" in the mobile device category. Technical problems caused a couple-of-year delay—no doubt hurting its chances with consumers.

By then specifications included 8MB of memory (4x as much as the original unreleased model), Palm OS 4.1, a 66 MHz Motorola Dragonball Super VZ processor, and even a stylus within the watch buckle for Graffiti and other types of input on its 160 x 160 pixel resolution grayscale with backlight touch screen: Like a miniature Palm Vx; small, yes, but six-year-old technology nonetheless.

Other features included one-handed navigation via a 3-way Rocker switch and Back button, the ability to beam data to another Palm device via the Infrared Port, USB HotSync support for Mac OS and Windows, and a lithium-ion rechargeable battery that was supposed to last approximately 3-4 days. The battery could be recharged with an included AC adapter.

SPOT On or Off
Last September, Fossil vehemently fought rumors that it had abandoned its SPOT (Smart Personal Objects Technology) watch line. The removal of its SPOT shop only confirms the trouble these products have had in finding an audience. Watches built on Microsoft's SPOT with MSN Direct Service first shipped in early 2004, followed by a second-generation a year later.

SPOT watches use tiny, low-cost, very low power, and integrated FM radio receivers to push and display up-to-date personalized and location-specific information via MSN Direct. Original channels included news, weather information, stock quotes, personal messages, and calendar appointment reminders.

Since that time MSN Direct added sports scores, movie listings, trivia, horoscopes, and lottery results. In addition to Fossil, vendors offering SPOT watches include Suunto, Swatch, and Tissot.

Fossil closing its online doors for SPOT and Palm doesn't necessarily spell doom for high-tech watches, certainly not the Microsoft-variety—since when does the software giant give up a market-niche without a fight? But most of the SPOT watches on the market are at least a year old at this point. To keep the market alive, Microsoft needs to get new licensees or the old ones, including Fossil, to update their product lines.