Images of a smarwatch prototype apparently planned by Microsoft-owned Nokia at one point were released Friday on Twitter by reputed leak finder and tech journalist Evan Blass. Apparently, the device would’ve been known as the Microsoft Moonraker and should have been presented at 2014’s Mobile World Congress had it not been ultimately scrapped.
Blass reportedly found the pictures representing the prototype on Tumblr blog which belongs to a Microsoft designer by the name of Pei-Chi Hsieh, and show the smarwatch in three color themes: green, black and blue and orange. He found no further information regarding the technical specs of the Microsoft Moonraker smartwatch and from what it seems the images were most probably jusst promotional.
Of course, had Microsoft actually decided to go with the project, it would have probably certainly shipped with a Windows OS (probably 8.1 considering the unveil date) and would have competed with similar devices from the likes of Samsung, LG, Motorola and of course Apple. One of the reasons the project was ultimately scrapped might have been the underwhelming reception that smartwatches got in term of sales – with less than 5 million units shipped in 2014 as a whole and even Apple’s latest foray being considered a flop.
There is also the chance that the project is still underway at Microsoft, though the probability is slim considering the uphill battle it would have to face against the Apple Watch. Tech news site The Verge claims that it knows from unnamed sources within the project that the smartwatch was developed by Nokia and was scheduled for a public unveiling at the 2014 edition of the Mobile World Congress, but apparently the plug was pulled on the project when parent company Microsoft thought it would have directly competed with its own Microsoft Band.
Once a tech giant in the world of cell phones, Nokia’s mobile phone business was caught on the wrong side of the table at the start of the smartphone era and could not stop its business from going downhill. The Finnish corporations’ mobile division was purchased by Microsoft in April 2014 for over $7 billion to integrate it into its Windows Phone division, renouncing the Nokia brand altogether.
However, the Finnish telecommunications giant might look to come back into phone manufacturing in the near future as it announced its purchase of French telecommunications equipment and mobile developer Alcatel-Lucent in April for a sum of over $18 million.
Image Source: The Verge
