There’s some strong indications that Intel will be moving away from the wearables business. In their defense, it’s a difficult niche to be profitable in – except maybe for the bigger, more established companies in the smartwatch market like Samsung, LG, and Motorola. Intel had its own smartwatch – the Basis Peak – but that was subject to a recall because of some overheating issues. Now it looks like Intel may be getting off this train for good.
Sources say that a massive layoff of employees from Intel’s New Devices Group is being planned, and that this would probably herald the company’s retreat from the wearables market. “Reports thus far have been varied, but all point to a large job loss for those in the NDG and the possible shut down of the group altogether,” Tech Crunch wrote about the info from these sources.
And in the wake of the Basis Peak getting discontinued, a newer smartwatch was supposed to be launched – called the Basis Ruby. This new device would have come with heart-rate, activity, and sleep tracking features, but it looks like even this is being cancelled because of the general direction of moving away from wearables.
There is no mention of the number of jobs being dropped, or when it will be announced. The sources say that this will happen before the year closes, so this is probably in the works right now. We’ll have to see if Intel goes public with this move.
VIA: SlashGear
