“It was way back in December 1979 that LA’s Windert Watch Company announced the first iWatch style smartwatch, and much of what was promised then calls the bell on what’s expected from future wearables from Apple, Google and others,” Jonny Evans writes for Computerworld.
“As you’d expect the Windert Communicator was based on older technologies and wasn’t capable of delivering everything we now expect from wearable computing, but a December 1979 p.22 Omni Magazine news item says enough,” Evans writes. “Bob Guccione’s legendary popular science title told us of the Windert Communicator, a sub-$100 “solar-powered talking watch that not only literally tells the time but also nags you awake with alarm messages.” (It was a step up from digital watches at that time). The watch promised a then incredibly impressive 64k memory chip, “twice as big as anything now on the market”. (In context, the $1,195 Apple II Plus available at that time supported ‘up to’ 64k memory). It’s not clear if the device ever shipped.”
Read more in the full article here.