It means it was at a Swatch marketing event that featured Negroponte in person, in the room as they started the system. It's like saying the Amiga 1000 was lau

It means it was at a Swatch marketing event that featured Negroponte in person, in the room as they started the system. It's like saying the Amiga 1000 was launched in the presence of Debbie Harry and Andy Warhol. Maybe because I'm European and there are direct translations in my native tongue, "in the presence of" sounds just fine if a bit official.