Microsoft is reportedly working on designs for a touch-enabled smart watch, a move one analyst called a "snipe hunt" that would distract it from the critical chore of getting Windows 8 off the ground.
Another expert, however, said Microsoft needs to keep up with the technology Joneses, and is certainly able to do more than one thing at a time.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft has purchased components, including 1.5-in. displays, that could be used to build smart watches.
If accurate, it would add Microsoft to the list of companies that are investigating, prototyping or even planning to launch wrist-wearable devices. Google is allegedly developing a smart watch that would be tied to Android smartphones; Samsung, the world's largest seller of Android-powered handsets, is purportedly doing the same.
Apple has also been linked to the category, with talk circulating two months ago of a possible "iWatch" that could be a smartphone companion or a stand-alone device.
"It's important that Microsoft explore this," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "At some point, we'll have wearable devices, and companies in [mobile] need to be playing with the idea."
Saying he would be shocked if Microsoft was not looking at smart watches, Gottheil said the Redmond, Wash. company is large enough to devote resources to the project. "I don't buy into the idea that companies can do only one thing at a time," he said. "But there is a difference between [researching and prototyping] and making an announcement that says, 'We're going to kick butt in this category.'"
Gottheil also argued that Microsoft's core business -- to serve as a software and development platform for OEMs, the "original equipment manufacturers" that design, make and sell hardware that runs Windows -- demanded that the company plan for wearable devices.
But Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy disagreed. Strongly.
"Microsoft cannot waste its focus on 'snipe-hunts.' It has its hands full getting Windows 8 traction in phones, tablets and even personal computers," Moorhead said. "They have a potential disaster on their hands with Windows 8, and could lose the hearts and minds on client computing. [A smart watch] would be a distraction they can't afford, and suck resources from other projects. It's not like they can take people from Server and Tools and have them work on a smart watch."
