Apple Resumes Selling Nokia's Digital Health Products Following Settled Legal Dispute

[MacRumors]

Apple today resumed carrying Nokia's digital health products on its online store in the United States and Canada, nearly two months after the two companies announced they settled all litigation related to their intellectual property dispute.

The products available to purchase again include Nokia's Body Cardio Scale, Body+ Scale, BPM+ Blood Pressure Monitor, and Thermo Thermometer. Each of the accessories were previously sold under the Withings brand, which Nokia retired last month after acquiring that company for around $192 million last year.

Apple's website indicates the products are also available for pickup at Apple's retail stores between Friday, July 21 and Monday, July 24.

Apple had removed all Withings accessories from its online and retail stores around the world in December due to a legal dispute with Nokia. On May 23, however, Apple and Nokia announced they settled all litigation and agreed to a business cooperation agreement with a multi-year patent license.

The legal dispute began last December, when Nokia filed dozens of patent infringement lawsuits against Apple in the United States and other countries. Apple countersued Nokia, accusing the former phone giant of transferring patents to patent holding entities to squeeze additional royalties from the iPhone maker.

As part of the settlement, Nokia will receive an up-front cash payment from Apple, with additional revenues during the term of the agreement. Nokia will also be providing "certain network infrastructure product and services" to Apple.

Article Link: Apple Resumes Selling Nokia's Digital Health Products Following Settled Legal Dispute

 

[TreyCox]

I'm in the market for a good blood pressure monitor. I might look into this one.

 

[hsotnicam8002]

I'm in the market for a good blood pressure monitor. I might look into this one.

The one that was marketed under Withings is excellent. However, Nokia have defiled the iOS app and there is now no pleasure is using it. Why did they do that? It was a very competently design app and over a couple of years of usage, with no observed bugs, I saw no reason to change anything.

 

[Jononamission]

Totally agree with you... If its not broken... don't fix it... ugh... Hopefully they don't ruin these great products.

 

[D.T.]

For a second, I thought that middle item was more of an, umm, "lifestyle" product.

"Oh yes, YES ... wait, what happened?"

"I think I lost the bluetooth connection ..."

 

[justperry]

For a second, I thought that middle item was more of an, umm, "lifestyle" product.

"Oh yes, YES ... wait, what happened?"

"I think I lost the bluetooth connection ..."

I wish I had your imagination.

 

[addictive]

I would expect next time Apple has a focus on health at one of their presentation product launches that someone from the new Nokia(Withings) will come on stage. Especially if it is something Apple Watch can benefit from

 

[twinlight]

I own Withings Activité Pop, Smart bodyscale and the Blood pressure monitor. I find it interesting to keep an eye on my stats and also excellent for following my progress in weight loss and training.

The app is pretty decent. I like the new design but have had a bug or two. Which did happen on the old app also so..

 

[arturmeireles]

It seems Im the only one who likes the new design of the app. I have the scale and the Aura. The scale is superb. The Aura is inconsistent. Sometimes the total sleep is similar to my FitBit charge 2 and sometimes not.

 

[PlutoPrime]

Nokia ruined the Whithings iOS App. Everyone I knew personally that was an avid user stopped using the app. The interface is now much harder to intuit and harder to read with the shrinkage of everything and a diarrhea of padding and white space everywhere.

This is an example of how/why NOT to do an acquisition.

 

[extrachrispy]

I used the Withings app long enough to set up my scale. On a daily basis, I never use it--the scale and the app write to the Health data store, and MyFitnessPal reads from that store, and I'm good to do.

I would imagine the same is true of the other products. Suffer through the pain of using the new app long enough to grant access to write to Health data, and then you never have to use it again.

 

[groovyd]

I'm in the market for a good blood pressure monitor. I might look into this one.

Cover shipping and I'll send you one I never use anymore, non withings/nokia/smart but it works...

 

[ipedro]

Nokia ruined the Whithings iOS App. Everyone I knew personally that was an avid user stopped using the app. The interface is now much harder to intuit and harder to read with the shrinkage of everything and a diarrhea of padding and white space everywhere.

This is an example of how/why NOT to do an acquisition.

I have to disagree, but with a caveat. Nokia didn't ruin the Withings iOS app — Withings did. The app was cluttered and way more complex than it needed to be. I have several Withings products and it was a pain navigating to basic functions of each. It took 3 swipes, 2 taps, a wait, and another 2 taps just to set my Aura to take a nap.

The Nokia app isn't anything to brag about but it did a complete reboot which was needed. They've been steadily adding functions back to the app and it's on a path to being feature complete. It's a brand new app so it's expected that bugs will pop up after being rolled out to the mass market. They've been fixing those bugs with regular updates and keeping users informed of their progress.

Regardless, I don't use the app as my daily health monitor. I just have it export the data to Apple Health. When I do have to use the app to set a nap (which is much faster: 2 taps) or measure my blood pressure (just turn on the device and the app launches), it's much quicker to get in and get out.

I'm willing to give Nokia a shot. They've demonstrated that they're listening to feedback and responding adequately.