The company launched the devices in 2020, and will now be issuing refunds to its users
The global wearable technology market is huge: it was valued at $61.30 billion in 2022 and is expected to be valued at $186.14 billion in 2030, a compound annual growth rate of 14.6%. There were 216.43 million smartwatch users alone in 2022, and the approximate revenue generated was $43.39 billion.
Yet, Amazon could not make it work in this space: on Tuesday, the company revealed that the Amazon Halo wearable and app, which it had first unveiled in 2020, would be shutting down and will no longer function starting on August 1 of this year.
"At Amazon, we think big, experiment, and invest in new ideas like Amazon Halo in our efforts to delight customers. While we are proud of what we built, we recently made the difficult decision to stop supporting Amazon Halo effective July 31, 2023," the company wrote in a note to Halo users.
Amazon is offering users a full refund for Halo View, Halo Band, Halo Rise, and Halo accessory bands purchased in the last year, as well as for any unused prepaid Halo subscriptions fees. Those who paid subscription will no longer be charged.
The company also provided instructions for how users can either download or delete their Halo health data.
Amazon Halo, along with the Amazon Halo app, uses multiple sensors, including an accelerometer, a temperature sensor, and a heart rate monitor, to monitor activity, sleep, body fat and voice. In 2021, the company debuted a new fitness band called the Halo View, along with a Halo Fitness service, which provides workout videos, and Halo Nutrition, which helps users meal plan.
This announcement comes as Amazon makes deep cuts, including the laying off of 18,000 employees earlier this year, followed by the announcement of another 9,000 in March.
“We have made the difficult decision to wind down the Halo program, which will result in role reductions,” Melissa Cha, Amazon’s VP of smart home and health, told company staffers in an email obtained by The Verge.
“More recently, Halo has faced significant headwinds, including an increasingly crowded segment and an uncertain economic environment. Although our customers love many aspects of Halo, we must prioritize resources and maximize benefits to customers and the long-term health of the business.”
This is not the first of Amazon's forays into healthcare to meet such an end: Haven, the healthcare company that emerged from a joint venture between JP Morgan Chase, Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway in 2018, quietly shut down in 2021 earlier this year.
That, of course, has not stopped it from continuing to make moves in the space, most notably its acquisition of primary care provider One Medical for $3.9 billion.
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