It looks like Microsoft’s Band is breaking up.
It’s been discovered that Microsoft has pulled its Band wearable devices from its online store and has also yanked its Band software development kit. While Microsoft hasn’t officially confirmed that its done with its Band wearables, the company did say that it’s sold through its existing inventory of the Band 2 and that it’s got no plans to release a new Band this year.
Here’s Microsoft’s full statement to ZDNet:
"We have sold through our existing Band 2 inventory and have no plans to release another Band device this year. We remain committed to supporting our Microsoft Band 2 customers through Microsoft Stores and our customer support channels and will continue to invest in the Microsoft Health platform, which is open to all hardware and apps partners across Windows, iOS, and Android devices."
So while Microsoft hasn’t officially killed its wearable device, things aren’t looking too hot right now. This is actually about the time of year that we’d see a new Band, with the first two models having been introduced during the month of October. Unfortunately for fans of the Band, though, there’s no new model coming. The upside is that at least Microsoft has confirmed that no new Band is coming rather than leaving fans of the devices to wait and wonder.
Despite having the big Microsoft name behind them, the Band devices never really seemed to catch on. The devices had to face established fitness tracker players like Fitbit and Garmin, and more recently, we’ve seen Samsung and Apple get in on the action wit their own fitness-tracking devices.
Have you ever used a Microsoft Band?