Jawbone Pulls Out of Consumer Wearables Market to Focus on Clinical Health Products

[Dezrad]

Jawbone is officially exiting the consumer wearables market to focus on developing medical products for direct sale to clinical practitioners, according to a new report.

Speaking to TechCrunch on Friday, sources familiar with the matter said Jawbone's latest pivot away from its fitness tracker and Bluetooth speaker business involved working on a health product for the medical sector, including offering services for clinicians who work with patients.

According to the report, Jawbone is seeking to raise foreign investor money as part of the revised strategy, after spending around $951 million in an attempt to prevent a collapse of its consumer wearables business.

One source told TechCrunch the consumer market had proved "too challenging" for small and mid-size technology companies, but that the burgeoning health wearables sector - currently led by companies like Omada and Forward - offered Jawbone a possible escape route out of its financial troubles.
Reports of Jawbone's troubles go back to May 2015, when the company ended production of its UP line of fitness trackers and sold its remaining inventory to a third-party reseller at a discounted price.

Initially, Jawbone denied claims that it was going out of business and said it was focusing on advanced sensors to sell to other wearable makers, but over recent months a slew of angry customers frustrated by a lack of support have painted a more desperate picture.

Just last month both the head executive of product and the chief financial officer left the company, while MacRumors was contacted by former staff who said that Jawbone had let go of all employees at its four contact centers in Northern Ireland and across the U.S., leaving no-one to deal with customer complaints.

Jawbone still believes there is value in its business, but with a one-star customer rating on review aggregator website Trustpilot.com and an "F" rating on Better Business Bureau's site, the company faces a challenge if it is to win the confidence of additional investors, wherever its future lies.

Article Link: Jawbone Pulls Out of Consumer Wearables Market to Focus on Clinical Health Products

Not surprised I've had 2 both stopped working after a few months

 

[zhandri]

So many people here circlejeerking about their useless apple watch. Health tracker that can't even track sleep. Good joke

 

[Wawajey]

You need to stop with the Apple Worship. They are NOT gods. They're men and women that can bleed and disappear, break a bone, get burnt out and quit, or suffer any other kind of vulnerability. Apple is NOT a person nor a religious entity. It's a company with a building. It's NOT the brand name or physical location, or that 'spit shiny' gloss white-out logo that makes the products good. It's the people inside that does.

Jawbone did'nt go out of business. They're shifting gears. READ the article. They're being smart about going the health/medical route which is the specialized focus. The day Timmy leaves Apple is when the Apple foolishness STOPS ( hopefully ). The Watch took up a lot of their R&D and time for about 4-5 years. This probably explains why one small product siphoned so much of the engineers' time away from other things like....iMac or Mac Pro for the last 5 years without any progressive change ( despite the little evolutionary spec bumps ).

And one more thing: Fitbit is still here and kicking a$$. So are the other competitors such as Withings. The only way for Apple to stay competitive in the wearables is to BRING. THE. PRICE. DOWN. and cut back on overkill features, and beef up the battery life to more than 3 days. 12 hours is unacceptable. And NO, the crown should never be used for opening an app.

What the hell happened to simplicity design? The watch OS is overkill with too many apps. It's trying to be everything for everyone which is not a good idea. All they do is cram, cram, cram everything into each product until it's become saturated where they can't stand out from the competition.

There are very good wearables out there besides the Apple Watch. And I got bad news for you. NONE of the active people I know in fencing class wear an Apple Watch. NONE. They wear Fitbit Charges. In fact, my coach's brother works for Fitbit which is how she got one for free. I've seen it in person and it's well built.

FENCING CLASS LMFAO

 

[Pilgrim1099]

FENCING CLASS LMFAO

Even at tournaments, NONE of them wear Apple Watch.

Laugh all you want, at least I know how to use a weapon while you "Tapsturbate" on iOS all day.

 

[44267547]

So many people here circlejeerking about their useless apple watch. Health tracker that can't even track sleep. Good joke

Actually, I would ask yourself, how useful is your statement? That said, what a sad excuse of a statement to disparage against the Apple Watch because of "Sleep tracking." If you knew anything about the Apple Watch, There are third party applications available to use for sleep tracking. The Apple Watch is far
More useful then you clearly anticipate.

 

[zhandri]

Actually, I would ask yourself, how useful is your statement? That said, what a sad excuse of a statement to disparage against the Apple Watch because of "Sleep tracking." If you knew anything about the Apple Watch, There are third party applications available to use for sleep tracking. The Apple Watch is far
More useful then you clearly anticipate.

Awesome sleep tracking for 10 hours so in the morning when you wake up it's pretty much dead and you have to charge it and not even use it as a watch. on the other hand it's just heavy and a big fat pos.

 

[44267547]

Awesome sleep tracking for 10 hours so in the morning when you wake up it's pretty much dead and you have to charge it and not even use it as a watch. on the other hand it's just heavy and a big fat pos.

I don't understand anything You just posted. Your posting without having evidence of anything, just like your previous posts. Your bashing Apple Watch tendencies are not convincing anyone of anything.

 

[SBlue1]

One more bites the dust.

How long before the wearables market effectively becomes the Apple Watch market?

Dont confuse the wearable market with the smart watch market. While the Apple Watch is a wearable not all wearables are watches. I use wearables but will never use a smart watch.

 

[rp2011]

Not a bad idea actually. As long as they can afford tone in it for the long run and afford decent R&D budget.

When the Apple Watch has better biosensors it will surely see a sales explosion and become a must-have product.

As of today, the Apple Watch is nice and full of potential. I look at it like you can look at your toddler. You can see so much potential

..and at the same time just just hope doesn't become a sad loser.

 

[zhandri]

I don't understand anything You just posted. Your posting without having evidence of anything, just like your previous posts. Your bashing Apple Watch tendencies are not convincing anyone of anything.

That's probably because you would also buy the new macbook pro

 

[44267547]

That's probably because you would also buy the new macbook pro

You guessed it. However, Don't forget the Airpods, iPhone 7 Plus, 27 5K "iMac, iPad Pro 12.9 and three Apple Watches to suit.

 

[Abazigal]

Awesome sleep tracking for 10 hours so in the morning when you wake up it's pretty much dead and you have to charge it and not even use it as a watch. on the other hand it's just heavy and a big fat pos.

As a general rule of thumb, your Apple Watch would end the day at around 60%. More than enough to wear to bed with a sleep-tracking app active. When you wake up, simply put it to charge while you go wash up and shower before leaving for work and it will have enough juice for another day. It's not like the Apple Watch needs a full night of charging anyways.

I am not sure what you mean by fat and heavy. It's thin enough to fit under the long-sleeved shirts I wear to work, and I barely feel it on my wrist.

But keep all that misinformation coming, if you don't think your credibility is already down the drain.

 

[UKPoliticsGuy]

Even at tournaments, NONE of them wear Apple Watch.

Laugh all you want, at least I know how to use a weapon while you "Tapsturbate" on iOS all day.

Look Brah, you don't come on MacRumours, make a reasoned analysis then end on a ... fencing anecdote. Even I laughed!

 

[SBlue1]

Someone that says the Apple Watch lasts 12 hours is why "MacRumors Forums" are "MacRumors Forums".

I would never consider an wearable that doesn't last for 5 to 10 days. Yes I could charge it overnight. Would I want to carry one more charger on my weekend trips? Nope.

 

[Pilgrim1099]

Look Brah, you don't come on MacRumours, make a reasoned analysis then end on a ... fencing anecdote. Even I laughed!

If he thought it was funny based on the assumption of the word 'fencing', it was not the intention. I was serious.

I was clearly talking about this:

 

[FelixDerKater]

All they needed was a display on their bands.

 

[chr1s60]

If you consider Surface to be a tablet then there are two. Other than institutional buyers Android tablets are purchased 95% on price alone.

It doesn't matter what the reason for buying the Android tablet might be for someone, what matters is that they buy it instead of an iPad. And if price alone is a reason then they are a demographic Apple will never get.

 

[tennisproha]

This is my current Apple Watch app layout.

Here's what I am currently doing on my Apple Watch.

1) Apple Pay.

2) Interacting with notifications. I love being able to triage incoming email and dictate short replies to messages from my wrist, especially when my phone is not on me.

3) Siri on the wrist can be handy. I am using it to calculate discounted prices of products in shopping malls (e.g. "What is 70% of $139”)

4) Use the workout app to track my runs. Loving the heart rate sensor as well (not sure how accurate it is though).

5) Have apps like 1Password and Authy saved to my dock. I can now retrieve passwords and 2FA codes directly from my wrist.

6) It's just an nice watch all round (albeit one I have to charge every 1-2 days).

I don't feel like my Apple Watch is unnecessarily bloated or needlessly complicated. I came from a pebble watch and I am loving the added functionality.

woah, how'd you do this screenshot image thing if you don't mind? super cool.

 

[44267547]

I would never consider an wearable that doesn't last for 5 to 10 days. Yes I could charge it overnight. Would I want to carry one more charger on weekend trips? Nope.

I don't really consider this a legitimate excuse. It's not that much of an inconvenience to have an extra charger when traveling. To me, look how far technology has granted us convenience with not having to carry spare batteries, bulky charging bricks and cases for example.

These cables are easy to pack and slim lined, with the Apple Watch charger being no exception. The only issue someone could raise, is "I can't seem to remember or I forgot to pack." And that excuse is self inflicted.

 

[Breezygirl]

All they needed was a display on their bands.

Yes, they were way too overpriced the last couple years for not to having even a basic display, they had a amazing app though. Best in my opinion after using many fitness tracker apps. As well as their products only last a couple months at most, I had several Jawbones that didn't last more than 3.

 

[Abazigal]

woah, how'd you do this screenshot image thing if you don't mind? super cool.

Press Digital Crown and dock button on your watch at the same time to take a screenshot, which is saved in your phone's photo app.

 

[zhandri]

As a general rule of thumb, your Apple Watch would end the day at around 60%. More than enough to wear to bed with a sleep-tracking app active. When you wake up, simply put it to charge while you go wash up and shower before leaving for work and it will have enough juice for another day. It's not like the Apple Watch needs a full night of charging anyways.

I am not sure what you mean by fat and heavy. It's thin enough to fit under the long-sleeved shirts I wear to work, and I barely feel it on my wrist.

But keep all that misinformation coming, if you don't think your credibility is already down the drain.

After Looking at your post history everything is clear to me. You would buy a turd for 500$ if it had an apple logo on it. I just don't know why people just can't admit that the new apple stuff is boring and old news.

 

[Abazigal]

After Looking at your post history everything is clear to me. You would buy a turd for 500$ if it had an apple logo on it. I just don't know why people just can't admit that the new apple stuff is boring and old news.

I can't speak for other people, but I do know that my Apple products are working very well for me.

I am using my iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to teach in the classroom to great effect. My Apple Watch works great as a remote for my iPhone. My AirPods are light and portable and comfortable to wear, and I love how they pair so easily with my Apple products.

Everything I have shared so far are my own personal experiences with the aforementioned products.

 

[Col4bin]

Was it Jawbone customer service that has gone dark since last summer?

 

[44267547]

After Looking at your post history everything is clear to me. You would buy a turd for 500$ if it had an apple logo on it. I just don't know why people just can't admit that the new apple stuff is boring and old news.

Why cant you admit your failing to influence anyone of your consistent negative rhetoric on here? Looking at your post history, you Chastise anything Apple related. Anything. Again, your consistent Apple bashing isn't influencing anyone away from anything. I thinks it's a safe bet your snide behavior is becoming of you.

It must really bother you when are others are extremely content with their Apple products. It doesn't mean we need to share your negative demeanor. Try the Airpods or Apple Watch. You might actually like them.