Scott is struggling through an airport terminal with two huge and obviously heavy suitcases, when Bill Gates walks up to him and asks: "Have you got the time?"
Scott sighs, not recognizing Mr. Gates, puts down the suitcases and glances at his wrist. "It's a quarter to six", he says.
"Hey, that's a pretty fancy watch!" exclaims Mr. Gates.
Scott brightens a little. "Yeah, it's not bad. Check this out..." He shows him a time zone display for every time zone in the world. He hits a few buttons and from somewhere on the watch a voice says "The time is eleven till six" in a very West Texas accent. A few more buttons and the same voice says something in Japanese. Scott continues "I've put in regional accents for each city. The display is unbelievably high quality and the voice is simply astounding."
Bill Gates is dumb struck with admiration.
"That's not all...", says Scott. He pushes a few more buttons and a tiny but very hi-resolution map of New York City appears on the display. "The flashing dot shows our location by satellite positioning," explains Scott. "View recede ten", Scott says, and the display changes to show eastern New York state.
"I want to buy this watch!" says Bill Gates, thinking of the potential profits after his engineers tear it apart and then market it throughout the world.
"Oh, no, it's not ready for sale yet; I'm still working out the bugs",says the inventor. "But look at this", and he proceeds to demonstrate that "the watch is also a very creditable little FM radio receiver with a digital tuner, a sonar device that can measure distances up to 125 meters,a pager with thermal paper printout and, most impressive of all, the capacity for voice recordings of up to 300 standard-size books, though I only have 32 of my favorites in there so far" says Scott.
"I've got to have this watch! !" says Bill Gates, becoming insane with desire.
"No, you don't understand; it's not ready."
"I'll give you $2,000 for it!"
"Oh, no, I've already spent more than..."
"I'll give you $8,000 for it!"
"But it's just not..."
"I'll give you $20,000 in cash for it!" And Bill Gates pulls out his bulging wallet.
Scott stops to think. He's only put about $8,500 into materials and development, and with $20,000 he can make another one and have it ready for merchandising in maybe a year or so...
Bill Gates frantically waves the cash in front of Scott: "Here it is, right here and now, $20,000! Take it or leave it!"
Scott abruptly makes his decision: "Okay," he agrees as he peels off the watch and hands it to the stranger.
They make the exchange and Bill Gates prances happily away.
"Hey, wait a minute", calls Scott after the stranger.
Bill Gates turns around warily and says: "What?"
Scott points to the two heavy suitcases he had been trying to wrestle through the terminal.
"Don't forget your batteries."
Wristwatch/PDA/GPS/videophone/PC
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HaAGen DaZS
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