Report: Intel shuts down its wearable-technology business unit
Intel Corp. has finally given up its ambitions of dominating the wearable device market, despite having once had high hopes for the segment.
CNBC news cited people familiar with the matter as saying that the company has shut down the operations of its wearables business unit, which focused on products such as fitness trackers.
The report follows a story in TechCrunch in November that said Intel was planning to “step back” from the wearables market after it was forced to recall its Basis Peak line of fitness watches because of overheating concerns the previous summer. Intel denied the report at the time, but it should be noted that it never attempted to fix the overheating issue in its watches and instead just pulled the products from stores completely.
Now, CNBC’s sources are claiming that Intel did in fact lay off around 80 percent of its Basis group staff in November. The sources added that the group was “completely eliminated” around two weeks ago. Intel had previously acquired Basis Science for around $100 million in March 2014, saying at the time that it was gaining “immediate entry into the market with a leader in health tracking for wearable devices.”
The Basis unit was part of Intel’s larger New Technologies Group, which is now focusing on augmented-reality technologies, CNBC said.
The move marks another failure for Intel, which initially had high hopes for wearables after failing to crack the smartphone and tablet device market. At the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, Intel even hired celebrities such as rapper 50 Cent to help advertise its heart-rate sensing earbuds in a big marketing push. But unfortunately for Intel, wearable devices have so far failed to become much more than a niche product.
Intel doesn’t appear to have left the wearable market altogether, though. The company is still advertising its Curie microprocessors for Internet of Things devices, including wearables, on its website, at least for the time being.
Intel is set to report its second-quarter earnings on July 27.
Image: Intel in Deutschland/Flickr
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