CASIO to launch satellite navigation watch

Innovation

JAPANESE watch-maker Casio has come up with a new gadget for the outdoors enthusiast who has everything but a sense of direction - a wristwatch that pin points your position by satellite.

Casio early January said it had developed the wristwatch, equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) function, as a use

ful navigation aid for people who pursue a variety of outdoor activities, including mountaineering, skiing, boating, fishing, and cycling. The built-in GPS works by using information from 27 satellites around the globe to pinpoint the wearer’s current position. “If you wear this wristwatch, you will never get lost when you go moun taineering,” a Casio spokesman said. “The

new gadget has a function to guide you if you set the destination beforehand”. The pro totype GPS wrist watch also has 60 per cent less in weight and cubic volume than con ventional hand-held navigation systems, the company said.

Casio expects the watch to retail at around Y 55,000 ($A797) when it goes on sale world-wide in June and is aiming at sales of 30,000 units in the first year, the spokesman said. (Reuters) ■