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Intel Has Axed the Group Working on Fitness Trackers and Health Wearables (cnbc.com)
Intel has axed the division that worked on health wearables, including fitness trackers, CNBC is reporting citing a source. From the report: The company has been slowly de-emphasizing its own line of wearables for the past several years, and has not mentioned wearables on its earnings calls since 2014. In November, TechCrunch reported that the company was planning to take a step back from the business after its acquisition of the Basis fitness watch didn't pan out as expected. Intel denied at the time that it was stepping back. But a source told CNBC that the chip maker in fact let go about 80 percent of the Basis group in November. Many of the people were given the opportunity to relocate to other parts of the business. About two weeks ago, Intel completely eliminated the group, this person said. The company's New Technologies Group, which looks at cutting-edge business areas, is now focusing on augmented reality, another source told CNBC.
Nobody is winning. Turns out nobody really cares about fine grained details about their health past the "gee whiz look at this!" stage of product ownership.
Honestly, Intel is hurting itself badly by insisting on everything they make being x86, poorly documented and overpriced. Desktops are the only place that x86 even matters (due to Windows). Itantium and their IoT tanked not because it was bad but because of their own bad behavior. Intel deserves it's slow death because they have earned it by being greedy jerks who would rather sabotage the competition than make their product more accessible.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
...take a step back from the business after its acquisition of the Basis fitness watch didn't pan out as expected...
Many speculators like the VC types thought this was going to be HUGE, but really, it's turned out to be more or less a "fad" and a niche market where there just isn't a market for more than one or two serious players.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Anyone who has ever bought a Nordic Track that turned into a clothes rack would have seen wearable brow-beating health monitors as a fad.
FitBit and Apple own this space already, and no amount of Intel "magic" is going to get them to catch-up to those two widely disparate, but both widely successful, platforms.