Just as announced back in 2009, Microsoft has put the plug on its MSN Direct service as soon as the year 2011 was over. As of January 1st, 2012, devices that relied on this service to receive MSN Direct content such as Weather, Traffic, News and more are left in the dark.
Devices that pack additional features, unrelated to the MSN Direct content, including navigation, should not be affected by the discontinuation.
The service was put in place back in 2003, when Microsoft launched SPOT watches with support for it. However, the first wristwatches and wireless services that were powered by Microsoft's Smart Personal Objects Technology arrived on shelves only in 2004.
The SPOT (Smart Personal Objects Technology) project was actually unveiled in 2002 at COMDEX. At that time, Microsoft was hoping that it would turn into a hit through delivering information to a variety of small devices, including watches, clock radios, and more.
A wide range of products with support for the service emerged, including coffee makers or Garmin navigation units.
The service was meant to provide users with info on weather, traffic, news headlines, stocks, and the like at all times. The service required a subscription.
Obviously, users were not attracted too much by MSN Direct, which led to the decision to kill it off starting with the first day of the year.
The MSN Direct service was capable of delivering the same data to all devices at the same time. Unfortunately, it was unable to provide users with a large amount of data, but only with small chunks, which resulted in news being transmitted hours later than intended.
Not to mention that services available today for smartphone users offer the same features for free, much faster and more reliable. Undoubtedly, there will be some devices affected by the discontinuation of MSN Direct service, but the number should be insignificant if Microsoft decided to shut it down.
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