1. Trends & External Forces

No Business Halo For Amazon Fitness Trackers

Bloomberg reports that Amazon “is pulling the plug” on its line of Halo fitness devices, ending all support for the service on August 1.

The move is seen as reflecting CEO Andy Jassy’s desire “to wind down marginal programs and streamline the retail and cloud-computing giant’s businesses.”

The line included wrist-worn health and fitness trackers introduced in 2020, as well as the Halo Rise, described as “a bedside device that uses radar to analyze a person’s sleep patterns,” which debuted last September.

According to the story, “The devices, some of which made use of cutting-edge speech recognition technology designed to interpret a person’s emotional state, were among Amazon’s first public efforts to enter the market for health and fitness tools. Since then, Amazon has expanded that project by acquiring 1Life Healthcare Inc., the parent of the One Medical line of doctor’s offices, for $3.49 billion, as well as launching an expanded online pharmacy and telehealth offerings.

“Amazon encouraged users who want to keep their health data to download it before the devices and a companion smartphone app cease to function on Aug. 1. The company says it’s offering a refund on Halo device purchases made in the last 12 months, as well as unused subscription fees associated with the gadgets.”

KC’s View:

This clearly sends a message that very little at Amazon is sacrosanct.  The Halo was seen as being a strong element in its broader healthcare ambitions, and now it will be gone.  Fascinating.

Could the Alexa-based systems be next?  Hard to imagine, but reports are that this has been a money-losing business, so it may depend on a) how hard-nosed Jassy is being about this stuff, and b) the degree to which Jeff Bezos is willing to go to the mattresses to protect it.

The post No Business Halo For Amazon Fitness Trackers appeared first on MNB.

View Original Article
https://morningnewsbeat.com
Do you like MorningNewsBeat's articles? Follow on social!