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The Microsoft Band Is Dead (zdnet.com)
Microsoft's fitness-band line of devices have not be very well adopted over the years. Last month it was reported that Microsoft will be killing off the Lumia brand in favor of a new Surface Phone brand. Now, it appears the company is discontinuing its Band devices, as it has removed all references to them from its Microsoft Store listing online. Mary Jo Foley writes via ZDNet: A tipster who asked not to be named showed me a cached version of the Microsoft Online Store listing from yesterday, October 2, which included Band devices; today, October 3, references to the Band devices are gone from the company's Store sites. Microsoft also removed the Band software development kit (SDK) today, which isn't surprising given it's no longer selling Band 2 devices. Microsoft is believed to have disbanded the software team that was looking to bring Windows 10 to the Band a couple months ago. I've gotten various tips that at least some of the Band hardware team members have dispersed, too, with some moving to other Microsoft hardware teams inside the company. Even though sources of mine have said Microsoft is planning to phase out its fitness band devices and to have no plans to roll out a Band 3 device any time soon (or likely, ever), company officials still haven't completely conceded that it's the end of the line for Band. I asked again today and have yet to get an updated statement from the company regarding when and why Band devices were removed from Microsoft's online stores. A spokesperson sent me the following statement: "We have sold through our existing Band 2 inventory and have no plans to release another Band device this year. We remain committed to supporting our Microsoft Band 2 customers through Microsoft Stores and our customer support channels and will continue to invest in the Microsoft Health platform, which is open to all hardware and apps partners across Windows, iOS, and Android devices."
brand*
I got a Zune Band with Clippy built in.
Table-ized A.I.
I bought a MS Band 2 to replace a Basis B1 after Basis basically dropped support for the B1 the moment the Peak was announced, and also broke a number of promises, etc... I picked it because it had the best sensor package around, even including a UV sensor. I found it very useful. I also found it very flawed. My band was replaced FOUR times under warranty due to cracks in the non-replaceable band at where it met the device. Microsoft was very good about replacing it, but it just never really solved the problem, just bought me a few more months of use. The magnetic attached charger also had some issues, and the software has always been a little buggy...especially syncing with the app...which right now includes claiming the battery died and the clock reset basically every few hours. It was a brilliant sensor package hindered by lousy industrial design. When my band breaks again, which I'm sure it will, this means the end for my Band.
I didn't know about this product before today. I guess it's the new Zune.
Read it as "the Microsoft brand is dead"? It was a letdown reading the rest of the story.
Dammit I never even got to hear them in concert.
I heard all their songs are just obvious but worse copies of other more successful bands music though.
Every time you invest in bleeding-edge Microsoft things, you get burned. Eventually this is going to happen to the Xbox.
Uh... xbox brand is 15 years old, I hardly consider it "bleeding edge microsoft thing", especially considering the 'xbox one s' is merely an upgrade to the original xbox one...
Whenever you purchase any bleeding edge technology you have a higher chance of getting burned that with technology that's been around for some time, it doesn't matter if it's a microsoft product, an apple product, or a damn tamagotchi. It is a risk that you either choose to take or not.
Uh, Microsoft Lumia is still up there on there site, and there's nothing about a Surface phone
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mobile/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
What will all the groupies do now?
who actively tried to sabotage OS/2?
"Fitness bands" are a fad, anyway. MS is smart to get out of them sooner rather than later. "Fitness bands" are something that out of shape people use for a week, then toss in a drawer, somewhere, never to be seen again. People who exercise on a regular basis don't need to know heart rate and all of that other silly stuff, unless they're seriously competitive athletes, which is, of course, a tiny market.
I don't respond to AC's.
Lasted as long as Wings.
Stupid, useless one-not products like this are an absolute waste of time, development hours and money.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
It remains to be seen if the surface phone is anything more than the product of a few people's imagination. My opinion is that Windows on phones is dead. Whether Microsoft will admit this or not is probably not relevant in the end. Intel flinched and stopped dumping Atoms into the market at less than cost. They've given up, which puts Microsoft in a worse position now. And they already looked pretty hopeless.
What's a fad is all these expensive devices with crap battery life. The Mi band does all the fitness (and sleep) tracking for $20. Now that's something you can just get for fun, and if you don't find it useful, pass it on to someone else. Personally I like mine. Making people buy $200+ devices with yearly upgrades? Of course that won't last.
Twinstiq, game news
The Band is the perfect example of Microsoft's ability to come up with a great product but completely botch its execution.
I owned the first gen for a month before returning it. The thing actually died within that first month due to the ingress of sweat, and that was without doing any strenuous activity. I didn't want to be stuck with something this prone to failure, but the actual functionality was fantastic. It worked well, and it had GPS.
So when the Band 2 was released I decided to get that, assuming and hoping that issues had been sorted out. The device is definitely much improved, but there have been two major issues. One is the band tearing and the second is some kind of battery failure. I experienced the second issue 6 months in and got a replacement. As others have mentioned, getting the replacement was effortless, but these kinds of problems shouldn't be happening at all.
The big frustration for me, however, was that smartwatch functionality never worked properly between my Lumia 950 and the Band. You'd figure that Microsoft's own devices would work with each better than with anything else. I've since gotten an iPhone, but continue to use the Band, and it works reliably like it never has with the Windows phone.
It really is a joke how Microsoft is incapable of getting their shit together to make reliable products. It's also disappointing that so many opportunities have been squandered. The flaws aside, the Band is a fantastic device.
I misread this as the Microsoft "Brand" is dead, nevermind
I think the wrong initial architectural decisions that Microsoft took cost them, plus their determination to try and converge devices. Had the Windows 8 platform been there during the Windows Phone 7, they might have done fine. Both the 8 and 10 were/are fine as phones, but all the fiascos around first Windows 8, and then Windows 10, succeeded in dumping the reputation of the entire platform.