Microsoft is working on a smartwatch focused on fitness, heart rate and health to rival Samsung’s Gear, a recently published patent reveals.

The “Wearable Personal Information System” patent application filed in 2012 describes a small device with a screen that clips into a band for use as a smartwatch, but that can also be detached and inserted into other fitness equipment becoming a personal fitness recorder.

The smartwatch will track a user’s position and route via GPS, measure movement with motion sensors and measure heart rate using optical sensors, similar to those found on other fitness trackers and smartphones capable of measuring heart rate.

'With Nokia's device business it makes perfect sense'

“Microsoft’s been in the watch space for a while, the Spot platform from 2004 was innovative and quite exciting at the time, and now it owns Nokia’s mobile device business, it makes perfect sense that Microsoft would have a team working on wearables,” explained Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight talking to the Guardian. “With smart wearables, the wrist is the path of least resistance because it is the most widely accepted place to wear technology at the moment, due to the position of the watch being there.”

Other applications beyond fitness functions including a music player, alarm clock, messaging and phone call apps are also described. Microsoft would likely include other more recently developed applications, including its Bing search, Cortana voice assistant and Skype too.

A dock for the smartwatch. Photograph: USPTO Photograph: USPTO

The patent details special docks into which the smart module could plug into, like a stand that turns the watch into a bedside alarm clock while charging it overnight.

'Smartwatches will be essential for Christmas'

“Smartwatches will be essential for mobile phone companies, particularly as we move towards Christmas. Manufacturers will have to have a wearable that can be bundled with their flagship smartphones,” predicted Wood. “The challenge is that we’re now seeing a market that is completely swamped with smartwatches, so what can Microsoft offer that others can’t?”

Microsoft will have to combat Google’s upcoming Android wear platform, that offers a customised version of Android for smartwatches and other smart wearable devices, as well as Samsung’s Tizen-powered Gear 2 smartwatch and the long-standing Sony Smartwatch line of devices.

Apple has also long been expected to enter the smartwatch market, although that has yet to happen.

“Microsoft has three options here. It could create something completely standalone, something that could work cross-platform with Android but optimised for Windows Phone, or something just for Windows Phone, but that would require something so disruptive it would entice users to switch platforms for the smartwatch which is a very, very tall order,” explained Wood.

Discarded within six months

Smartwatches and smart wearables have yet to become mainstream devices, with many being bought but discarded within six months because they do not offer a compelling reason to consistently use them. Many are put off because of the added maintenance a smart wearable requires as yet another device to charge at night, along with their smartphones.

Some, like the Misfit Shine, have combated poor battery life by using non-rechargeable batteries, offering a usable life of around four to six months per battery, although their functionality is limited.

Samsung’s recently released Gear 2 and Gear Fit smartwatches offer battery lives of around three to four days, and while they are improved still do not offer a compelling use case to justify their £250 and £170 cost.

'This is the next battleground'

Like smartphones, smart wearables and smartwatch patents could play a major role in the future, of which Microsoft undoubtedly has a library associated with its Spot work from the early 2000s. Others

“This is the next battleground; if wearables take off and we start talking about 10s to 100s of millions of devices sold, then patents are going to matter as it starts to become high-stakes like we are currently witnessing with patent rows over smartphones,” concluded Wood.

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