You all know that Nokia is now finally acquired by Microsoft. However, you may not know that Nokia was developing a smartwatch before the acquisition. Codenamed Moonraker, the smartwatch was not intended to come to life.
Images of the Mookraker smartwatch from Nokia emerged online, when it was captured by @evleaks. The images were posted online by Microsoft design employee Pei-Chi Hsieh on a Tumblr account, which was later pulled down. The Verge confirmed that Nokia did not intend bringing out the smartwatch to the market.
According to a report on PC World, the hardware is no different from conventional smartwatches, but the user interface was borrowed from the Metro design. ‘The software, however, took a page from Microsoft’s “Metro” design language, with Live Tiles that provide a glimpse into apps like text messaging. (It’s unclear, however, what Nokia was using for an operating system.),’ mentioned the author of the article.
Additionally, The Verge mentioned that the images of the Moonraker smartwatch were not a concept and was a real marketing material. The prototypes of the smartwatch were shown off behind closed doors at the MWC in 2014. Earlier leaks and rumours also were right when they mentioned that Nokia was planning to unveil a smartwatch alongside the Lumia 930.
Sadly though, the plans for the smartwatch were dropped and after Microsoft acquired Nokia, only to introduce a fitness band. Reports also mention that the Moonraker will never see daylight.
