Sina Technology News at noon on June 9 Beijing time, it is reported that people familiar with the matter said today that the parent company of Facebook meta platform has stopped developing a smart watch with two cameras and turned to developing other wrist devices.
The internal development code of meta's smart watch is "Milan", which has lasted for at least two years. According to previous reports, this watch includes some common functions of other smart watches, such as activity tracking, music playing and message sending. However, unlike Apple watch and other smart watches, the prototype of meta's smart watch is equipped with two cameras, one at the bottom of the display screen and the other at the back of the watch.
The second camera is designed to allow users to remove the dial from the strap to take photos quickly. But people familiar with the matter said that the existence of the camera led to another problem in the function of "converting nerve signals of the wrist into digital commands". The latter function is called "electromyography", which is one of the primary functions designed by meta for this watch.
People familiar with the matter said that the staff who developed the dual camera smart watch had been told to stop the research and development this week. According to the previous plan, this watch will be released in the spring of 2023 and will sell for about $349. The insider also said that although the development of this smart watch has stopped, meta is still developing a variety of other wrist wearing devices.
A meta spokesman declined to comment.
Analysts said that the cost cutting plan may also be one of the reasons why meta decided to stop developing this watch. At the earnings conference call in April, meta executives said that considering the business slowdown, the company's annual expenditure this year would be reduced by $3billion.
This has affected the recruitment of meta. In recent months, some management positions in meta have been suspended or slowed down. CEO markzuckerberg told investors at that time that comprehensive cost cutting meant putting some projects and efforts ahead of others.
Of course, some functions developed for this dual camera watch may appear in other meta products in the future. Based on the prototype device, the functions of this smartphone include removable watch strap, dual cameras, ESIM, WiFi and GPS; Applications include spotify, WhatsApp and instagram; Daily activity tracking, exercise, photo album, heart rate monitoring and calendar; Battery life is 18 hours.