First Meta Smartwatch Canceled – Here’s What It Could Have Done To Meta’s Goal

For a long time, the Apple Watch has set the standard for advanced wristwatch technology. Despite having good hardware, many of the best smartwatches are held down by poor software integration, and Google’s attempt with the entertaining but underwhelming Pixel Watch didn’t win us over. Earlier this year, Meta announced its intentions to revolutionize the smartwatch industry by releasing a wearable device with two interchangeable cameras. A fascinating idea that has been scrapped. So, what might a brand-new Meta smartwatch look like if it had been announced as Meta’s major news for 2022 instead of layoffs?

What Did Meta Hope To Do With a Smartwatch?

The software, rather than the hardware, is where Meta shines. Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are used by millions of people every day to communicate, exchange media, and entertain one another. With Meta’s smartwatch, customers may connect directly to the company’s social networks, cutting eliminating the need for a third-party app store like those of Apple or Google.

Meta’s lifeblood is user data, yet Apple and Google restrict what Meta can do in this regard on mobile platforms. After Facebook’s hopes of creating a smartphone were dashed in 2013, a smartwatch seemed the obvious next step.

How Might A Smartwatch Help Meta’s Objective?

Since the smartwatch was never mass-produced, all we know about it comes from photographs of the prototype that made its way online and from Meta’s own cryptic pronouncements. The two cameras were undoubtedly the most striking addition, especially considering that the vast majority of modern smartwatches have none.

This photograph of a prototype shows a camera located in a small notch in the bottom bezel. On the back of the smartwatch was another 12MP camera. The concept was for the watch to have a front-facing camera and a rear-facing camera, allowing the user to snap pictures either by wearing the watch or by detaching it and using it as a smartphone.

Because of size constraints, including a camera, this feature would be of dubious utility on a smartwatch. It would come in handy in a bind. It’s hard to picture yourself utilizing this instead of your phone’s camera.

The original concept was to allow for simple uploading of images to social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook straight from the watch. It would only take a few touches of your wrist to take a picture and share it online.

A heart rate monitor, LTE connectivity, and a sensor to translate hand gestures into digital commands rounded out the features of the pre-packaged smartwatch. It seems that functionality was broken due to the placement of the rear camera. If it had functioned as intended, it would have enabled users to command additional devices using gestural input.

The smartwatch would have its own operating system, with app management handled by your Facebook profile. It’s quite doubtful that Meta would be unable to access any information gleaned about the wearer by means of the watch.

Reasons For Meta Smartwatch Cancellation

The privacy concerns would have likely prevented a large number of people from adopting the smartwatch even if the bad concept of integrating two cameras on a smartwatch had somehow worked out. But it’s unlikely that faulty components were to blame for the smartwatch’s failure to enter widespread distribution.

After announcing a layoff last year, Meta laid off 11,000 workers just last week. Since work has also stopped on the Portal smart display. It seems likely that Meta lacks the resources necessary to prioritize the creation of new hardware.

As a whole, I doubt we would have gained much from using Meta’s smartwatch. There’s little doubt that it would have been fun to experiment with. It never would have been able to compete with other smartwatches. Instead, we may look forward to the inevitable proliferation of the metaverse throughout all of Meta‘s apps.

Read Also: Meta’s Strategy To Fire 11,000 Employees