Earlier this week Microsoft announced that its second fitness tracker the Microsoft Band 2 – has now sold out and there are no plans to replenish stock or to release an updated version. This looks like the end of another line of hardware coming out of Redmond.
Why? I think the question comes back to what exactly Microsoft wants to sell to consumers in the current climate. The answer is not hardware (even though the revenue is nice), the answer is the cloud. Microsoft wants to get as many people signed up to its cloud as possible. Presumably the hardware sales of the Band and Band 2 were not enough, and this is a rationalization of the process, because the cloud-based service is still going strong, as noted in the statement to ZD Net:
The hardware range is dead… long live the software platform.
Microsoft Band (image: Ewan Spence)
Just as it left the high-volume low-priced budget smartphone market by sunsetting the Lumia brand and platform it appears that Microsoft has come to the conclusion that the Band 2 was not cost-effective in bringing consumers to the cloud. In the case of the smartphone ecosystem, Microsoft move on from hardware sales and has focused on signing up Android and iOS users to the Microsoft cloud through the use of Outlook, Office 365, and the often-overlook OneNote.
Microsoft is leaving a similar option open for other fitness device manufacturers and software coders to interface with the Microsoft Health platform, but much like the move out of the low-impact smartphone hardware manufacturing game, Microsoft can now refocus its healthcare efforts not on the expensive low-margin Band and Band 2 but on the software and data generated by countless fitness trackers. Capture that data, bringing it in to the cloud, and be the strong ‘secondary’ account that consumers use alongside a Google ID on Android or the Apple account on iOS.
Why? I think the question comes back to what exactly Microsoft wants to sell to consumers in the current climate. The answer is not hardware (even though the revenue is nice), the answer is the cloud. Microsoft wants to get as many people signed up to its cloud as possible. Presumably the hardware sales of the Band and Band 2 were not enough, and this is a rationalization of the process, because the cloud-based service is still going strong, as noted in the statement to ZD Net:
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.
The hardware range is dead… long live the software platform.
Just as it left the high-volume low-priced budget smartphone market by sunsetting the Lumia brand and platform it appears that Microsoft has come to the conclusion that the Band 2 was not cost-effective in bringing consumers to the cloud. In the case of the smartphone ecosystem, Microsoft move on from hardware sales and has focused on signing up Android and iOS users to the Microsoft cloud through the use of Outlook, Office 365, and the often-overlook OneNote.
Microsoft is leaving a similar option open for other fitness device manufacturers and software coders to interface with the Microsoft Health platform, but much like the move out of the low-impact smartphone hardware manufacturing game, Microsoft can now refocus its healthcare efforts not on the expensive low-margin Band and Band 2 but on the software and data generated by countless fitness trackers. Capture that data, bringing it in to the cloud, and be the strong ‘secondary’ account that consumers use alongside a Google ID on Android or the Apple account on iOS.
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