Neil Hughes
Less than two years after Nokia bought health and fitness gear maker Withings for $192 million, the major investment appears to be problematic for the Finnish company, as a new memo suggests its health business may not last much longer.
The leaked note, obtained by The Verge, featured Nokia Chief Strategy Officer Kathrin Buvac telling employees that the company does not see a way for the business "to become a meaningful part of a company as large as Nokia."
The acquisition of Withings allowed Nokia to step into the wearable devices market, where it competes with the likes of the Apple Watch.
Apple and Nokia also found themselves at odds with each other in court over dueling patent infringement allegations. Those issues were eventually resolved last May, which led to Apple resuming sales of Nokia health accessories at its stores, but that apparently was not enough for the business unit to find the kind of success Nokia seeks.
"Rather than only falling in love with our technology, we must be honest with ourselves," Buvac wrote in her rather ominous sounding memo.
Nokia announced last fall that it would write down $164 million U.S. on the purchase of Withings, revealing it overpaid for the health device maker. In her memo, Buvac said Nokia plans to "focus and transform" itself into a business-to-business licensing company in telecommunications and industrial automation, focusing less on consumer products.
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23 Comments
Hope the withings founders buy back their company and continue to develop health accessories. Forget the watch, though! But scales, blood pressure, thermometers and sleep monitors are great companions to the Apple health eco system.
I have a Withings Activité watch and I like its stylishness, endurance and beauty. However, if Nokia kills what used to be Withings, I'm ready to ditch it for the Apple Watch. But what about the Thermo (really great product!), Aura and smart scale? Are they destined for slow death like Pebble Time? Or are they going to die immediately? I wonder if there is any other company with such high quality and homekit compatible products. Honestly, I don't understand Nokia. It used to be #1 mobile phones company. Now it makes low-end androids and android iPad knockoffs. And because of some business whim it decides to buy perfectly working creative company (having absolutely different scope) just to kill it few months later? Why?