Farewell to MSN Direct, in 2012 |
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Farewell to MSN Direct, in 2012
Microsoft tonight gave notice of plans to discontinue the MSN Direct service, its system for delivering data over FM radio signals. The service, which dates to the company's ill-fated foray into smart watches, has more recently been focused on delivering real-time traffic information and other data to GPS navigation devices.
It's the latest in a series of Microsoft consumer services to be discontinued. But it's not happening right away. Microsoft says MSN Direct's official death notice will come on January 1, 2012, more than two years away. Here's how the company is explaining the decision in an FAQ posted on the MSN Direct site.
The delivery of location-based services in the U.S. and Canada has evolved since Microsoft began offering MSN Direct in early 2004. Leveraging unused FM radio spectrum to broadcast data represented a step forward in 2004, however, many choices today including WiFi, Cellular, FM RDS and other digital networks are now readily available and are continuing to grow in popularity. Despite good initial MSN Direct adoption, these alternatives have significantly reduced demand for MSN Direct service. As such, Microsoft has made the decision to focus future U.S. and Canada investments on these existing network connections and discontinue the MSN Direct services business. Microsoft will continue to explore new ways to leverage the efficiencies of FM digital broadcast in other applications and markets going forward.
I've followed this service since the launch of those first smart watches, and even thought it was never a big business, I always thought the technology, at least, was pretty interesting -- finding new utility in an old infrastructure. Will be interesting to see if Microsoft or someone else can ultimately find a profitable use for the system.
Update: Also see coverage on Liveside.net and the L.A. Times Tech Blog
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Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
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