Microsoft finally decided to kill its MSN Direct service which was providing traffic, weather and other real-time services to Personal Navigation Devices. the end of the service was announced on the MSN Direct website with the following statement:

“MSN Direct service will be available only until January 1, 2012. Customers can continue to enjoy the full benefits of MSN Direct, along with service and support, up until that date. Pro-rated refunds for unused portions of existing One-Time Payment and other subscription plans will be automatically credited after January 1, 2012. Customers may cancel service at any point prior to that date and receive a pro-rated refund for any unused portion of their subscription. Microsoft customer support is available to answer any questions about existing subscriptions or refund eligibility”.

The service, using the FM bandwidth to broadcast news feeds (weather, traffic, events, news, etc.) was first launched in 2004 targeting little electronics devices such as wristwatch. This sevice was a complete failure until the Personal Navigation industry emerged in 2007 in the United States, offering a second chance to MSN direct. The service had however again a limited success in the navigation industry. Despite having Garmin as a customer Microsoft did not succeed to make it a must have for the other key players on the market.

The advent of HD radio and GPRS connected PNDs in the United States probably decided Microsoft to kill MSN Direct, despite having launch a few additional services early 2009 (read story here).

NAVTEQ has been one of the key providers of services to MSN Direct.