Fossil Wristwatch Delayed Indefinitely

Posted By: Ryan Friday, September 26, 2003 11:14:31 AM

The Fossil Palm OS wristwatch has been delayed yet again. Amazon.com now reports that the highly anticipated model is now listed as "item is not stocked or has been discontinued," and is no longer taking pre-orders.

Fossil Palm OS Wrist PDA ~ Click For LargerFirst unveiled in November 2002, the wristwatch was originally scheduled to be available in June 2003. Shortly after June, the online retailer stated the release would be pushed back to July 31st.

Shortly before the rescheduled July release, the date was pushed back again and Amazon claimed a September 31st shipping date. Now the line is listed as "not stocked or has been discontinued," and it is no longer possible to make a pre-order. Fossil's website does not list a shipping date.

According to a statement from Fossil on the Register, Fossil confirmed that it will not ship in September and was adamant that it has been delayed not cancelled. The company claims the reason for delay is "production quality."

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It would be outdated then..

yoyolai @ 9/26/2003 12:43:48 PM #
Are they trying to make it colored version or with os5?
Otherwise why would anyone buy it today?

yoyolai

RE: It would be outdated then..
drillmaggot @ 9/26/2003 1:35:14 PM #
It's been outdated since the release news came out.
This device should never go into production.
It's an ungly watch to begin with.

RE: It would be outdated then..
helf @ 9/26/2003 3:12:50 PM #
It's not outdated dip. It would be the most powerful watch out there. Right now that title belongs to the ruputer/onhand PC. Do you really want to try putting a 8mhz or faster ARM cpu plus color screen in such a small watch and hope for batt life longer than 2hours?

I'd actually be happy with this watch.. If it had decent batt life. I have yet to replace the batts in my onhand and I have had it for ~4months.

RE: It would be outdated then..
helf @ 9/26/2003 3:18:20 PM #
Don't bring up that linux watch. I forgot about it. IBM has no intention of selling that watch. So it does not count :)

RE: It would be outdated then..
painted_dog @ 9/26/2003 7:36:18 PM #
"It would be the most powerful watch out there."

... & with it I could RULE THE WORLD !!! AH HAAA HHAAA (evil, menacing laugh)

-painted dog

RE: It would be outdated then..
helf @ 9/26/2003 8:19:41 PM #
lol.. you never know... ;)

Can't believe it

Dennizlerim @ 9/26/2003 12:44:29 PM #
This sucks!
On PalmSource Europe they claimed that it was such a great device.

I've already wondered, why they wasn't any Fossil there to see for the "public", but only for media.

This thing probably will never come out.... and maybe it's better that way

RE: Can't believe it
bcombee @ 9/26/2003 12:53:15 PM #
Actually, there was one for the public to see. Larry Berkin, during his Sunday night talk to the Palm User Groups, passed one around the room and let people play with it. I tried it out briefly, and while it looks like a nice platform for some data applications, the side buttons are too painful to press, in my opinion, to make this a success. They are standard watch buttons, which require a bit of pressure and feel like little needles. I may still get one, but only to test on, not to use on a daily basis.

--
Ben Combee, CodeWarrior for Palm OS technical lead
Programming help at www.palmoswerks.com
RE: Can't believe it
Dennizlerim @ 9/26/2003 1:54:26 PM #
Really?
Sad, I came to Munich sunday night. I had hoped to see it at the table upstairs, where all the devices were laying.
Anyway, like I said, maybe its better to let this device sleep away.
I just hope Samsung won't do that with their ideas...

RE: Can't believe it
crustyedgeofinnovation @ 9/26/2003 2:48:51 PM #
i think it's too bad because I don't think that they are just holing back this model, but maybe they are not going to ever make a palm watch. I wouldn't have bought one, but it would have been cool to see it.

www.departmentofcomfort.com

Bad Date

reinbeau @ 9/26/2003 1:03:53 PM #
"Shortly before the rescheduled July release, the date was pushed back again and Amazon claimed a September 31st shipping date."

Hmmm, there isn't a September 31st, so I think Amazon was trying to tell us something for quite awhile!!

**************************************
Ann - happily using her Garmin iQue3600

Fossil manufacturer - Flextronics is sued

colinjc @ 9/26/2003 1:46:10 PM #
The Register article indicates that Fossil is unhappy with their contract manufacturer Flextronics.

I then read on the BBC News website that Flextronics has just had a lawsuit successfully go against them for 1 Billion (yes Billion) dollars.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3138168.stm

Perhaps Fossil is delaying pending the appeal or looking for another manufacturer...

Colin

RE: Fossil manufacturer - Flextronics is sued
painted_dog @ 9/26/2003 7:39:45 PM #
... curious, there was a contract mfg expo recently & one of the highlights was to be a dude from flextronics & the pic in the brochure showed the fossil watch.

Also, isn't Flextronics the contract mfgr of the XBOX ?

-painted dog

RE: Fossil manufacturer - Flextronics is sued
JonathanChoo @ 9/27/2003 3:50:48 AM #
They were also the manufacturers for the original Palm Pilot.

Psion 5 -> Palm Vx -> Palm m505 -> Sony N770C -> Sony T625C -> Sony NR70V -> Toshiba e310 -> Palm Tungsten T -> HP h2210 -> Palm Tungsten T/3

Can you say vaporware

bigfoot @ 9/26/2003 2:44:36 PM #
Wow am I glad I'm not holding my breath waiting for this to show up.

Even Garmin didn't take this long.

Cheers,

RE: Can you say vaporware
hkklife @ 9/26/2003 2:55:21 PM #
To date, I have yet to actually lay my hands on a Garmin iQue. I wouldn't have been surprised a bit if it had failed to materialize at all. Now with the launch of the T|T3 imminent, what little thunder the Garmin had will be lost in the hoopla. If Garmin had managed to get that thing out in the March/April timeframe (at the latest) it would have been *the* device to have. I mean, it was the first Palm to ever have >32mb ram but the T|C and T|T2 and the new Sonys (regardless of the fact that most of that memory is unusable) have already equaled or beaten the iQue's 32mb capacity. The lack of a proper 5-way navigator is going to hurt the iQue even more.

My point is that Fossil and Garmin might honestly have been better off not pulling a 3dfx-style move and rushing an outdated/delayed product to market (ala Voodoo3,4, & 5). I am sure the Garmin will sell well to customers who shop at Bass Pro instead of BestBuy but I doubt we'll see a followup modem.

With the Fossil PDA Watch, I feared exactly what Ben Combee voiced in his above post. The old Casio databank watches had this problem. I had about 10 years ago a Casio touchscreen watche that actually had no mechanical buttons whatsoever. It was nigh impossible to input data into the thing or even start the stopwatch accurately with my fat fingers. There are some things that are just best left unminiaturized and I think a PDA watch is one of them-especially ones that tries to maintain comaptability with thousands upon thousands of existing programs.


RE: Can you say vaporware
palmhiker @ 9/26/2003 4:10:35 PM #
Quote: "To date, I have yet to actually lay my hands on a Garmin iQue."

I just played with one in CompUSA the other day. It is much thinner than I realized, and also very lightweight. If I was in the market for a higher-end GPS unit, this would more than make me happy. The construction seems solid, the screen is nice, and the integration of the GPS antenna is brilliant.

Regarding the Fossil watch, I thought this was a good idea when I first heard about it, but this big delay makes me think it may never be released.

RE: Can you say vaporware
bcombee @ 9/26/2003 4:20:40 PM #
There were a lot of iQue 3600 devices at PalmSource Europe -- I saw a few in the developer lab, and several people were carrying them around. The European model was advertised in the London papers, and people who had the device really liked it.

--
Ben Combee, CodeWarrior for Palm OS technical lead
Programming help at www.palmoswerks.com
RE: Can you say vaporware
hkklife @ 9/26/2003 4:36:11 PM #
My local CUSA said they "had one in stock but couldn't put it out for display-just sell it". If that's not insane logic, I don't know what is...a few days later that single model had been sold.

I've checked a bunch of sporting goods stores, two Bass Pro shops, and three CompUSAs-to no avail. The utter lack of availability of hte IQue 3600 is either a very good thing (for Garmin's sales) or a very bad omen for the Zodiac and any other machine running POS that's not made by Palm or Sony.



RE: Can you say vaporware
mikecane @ 9/26/2003 5:30:16 PM #
Come to NYC. CompUSA at 37th & 5th Ave has the iQue. Diagonally across the street, DataVision has it too. Both have working models out that you can fondle (except for the GPS bit, which doesn't work indoors).

The iQue is in its own league and its own GPS-centric market.

RE: Can you say vaporware
reinbeau @ 9/27/2003 7:45:55 PM #
Anyone who can't find a Garmin iQue right now isn't looking very hard, you can get them all over the internet, and CompUSA, Best Buy, even LL Bean has them instock to play with! Garmin didn't miss their mark at all, it's a wonderful PDA, any problems are being addressed by Garmin in their usual fast and thorough manner.

**************************************
Ann - happily using her Garmin iQue3600

Naive crew

RhinoSteve @ 9/26/2003 4:20:32 PM #
I met with the Fossel guys and frankly, while they are good designers, it is my opinion that they are babies wandering in the woods are far as contract manufacturing goes. They went from contracting watch design to contracting computer designs. Also, I wouldn't be surprised that they customer surveys came back saying they had a novelity on their hands with not enough mass appeal to do the volume needed. At least they didn't invest in the Segway!
RE: Naive crew
mikecane @ 9/26/2003 5:32:27 PM #
Segway! Hah! I just saw my *fourth* one in NYC last night, tooling down the sidewalk of 23rd Street. These are *civilians* owning/riding them. I'm not counting the test the NYPD is doing here.

I think Segway will be huge if they can get that price down down down... oh, and its weight down down down too.

Hmmm... and, you know, that four Segways I've seen being used in public versus just *two* Pocket PCs...

RE: Naive crew
Altema @ 9/27/2003 9:35:20 PM #
"Hmmm... and, you know, that four Segways I've seen being used in public versus just *two* Pocket PCs..."

Well, I know three users, so that makes FIVE PPC users! Oh wait, I forgot one quit using hers several months ago and went back to paper due to frustation.

RE: Naive crew
Altema @ 9/27/2003 9:38:13 PM #
PS: When the batteries get low, does a PPC fall over? I think they are safer in that respect...

RE: Naive crew
helf @ 9/29/2003 12:27:03 PM #
Don't you fall over when your batteries get low? ;)

PPC's might not fall over, but they stumble about a lot.

RE: Naive crew
RhinoSteve @ 9/29/2003 6:45:28 PM #
This is my call. The Seqway is a fad that will never take root into any mainstream.

It will go the way of bell bottom pants, rotating beds, hula hoops, dune buggies, mood rings and the current net organized performance art gatherings. Yes, it makes sense to see them on the sidewalks of midtown Manhatten but not the real world.

I can see the nostalgai now, "Remember those Seqway things around the turn of 21st century?" Not to mention that using them makes you fat. Why just can't you walk and keep in shape. I see no more than a niche market for this.

Also, it is just a matter of time before "Segway tipping" by groups of misfits becomes fad in itself.

RE: Naive crew
arielb @ 9/30/2003 1:50:04 PM #
they might do well on college campuses. again-not in the real world

Really just a novelty. Neat though...

Strider_mt2k @ 9/26/2003 5:39:49 PM #
Not for serious use.

I think most people would rather have a great PDA with a really good clock in it than an okay wristwatch that is a bad handheld.

Part of me still says it's really cool, but not the reaching for the wallet part, sorry.


RE: Really just a novelty. Neat though...
Wollombi @ 9/26/2003 6:19:42 PM #
I can see an advantage in that I could put the watch on, leave my PDA behind, and still have most or all of the data on my wrist, espcially if the watch is waterproof/water resistant. I like the idea, just not the forcasted price.

_________________
Sean

"They're smoking crack."
-Linus Torvalds on SCO group's copyright claims against Linux-

RE: Really just a novelty. Neat though...
helf @ 9/27/2003 9:58:55 AM #
'not for serious use' ? 'eh?

I use my onhand all the time.. course its batt life is like 4-5months and its water resistant etc.. And I dotn have to worry about breaking a touchscreen.. maybe you are right.. :)

RE: Really just a novelty. Neat though...
Strider_mt2k @ 9/28/2003 7:22:48 AM #
Hmm, and from the size of the thing, you also don't have to worry about keeping alot of girls' phone numbers in there either.

That monster combined with the big horn-rimmed glasses would be nearly 100% effective birth-control.

RE: Really just a novelty. Neat though...
RhinoSteve @ 9/29/2003 6:55:11 PM #
LOL, true so true. A friend of mine often kept his custom pinstriped Newton around himself socially. It got the nickname "birth control device."

I was told that it would be released around Christmas

Librarion @ 10/3/2003 11:51:26 AM #
I assume Christmas 2003 (though the Fossil customer service rep didn't actually say what year).

Re its use as a PDA: I don't expect to use it as such. I need a good watch. Why not get one that will also let me look at my address book and calendar?! (And as I told my wife -- I've lost plenty of watches, but I've never lost a PDA!)

I've been waiting for this since they first announced it. Ordered the Fossil in July, then when the release date for that got dropped back to July 30, I cancelled that and ordered the Abacus (it being $100 cheaper and with a release date of July 21). Then both deadlines got dropped back to Sept. 30 by Amazon. Then Amazon sent me an e-mail saying my order had been cancelled.

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