With the wearables market expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 18.2% between 2017 and 2021, it came as a bit of a surprise that the microprocessor giant Intel decided to close down its wearables department.
It was only a couple of years ago when Aysegul Ildeniz, the then vice president and general manager of Intel’s New Devices group, excitedly shared plans about Intel wearables division. Looking back, Intel first dove into wearables with their small computerized devices in 2014 before purchasing Basis Science whose Basis Peak watches were recalled for safety reasons. As the once booming market of fitness trackers cools down, we are witnessing companies like Jawbone have shut.
With not much information being shared, suspicion was raised when tech news site TechCrunch reported, back in November 2016, that it had laid off people working in their wearables department. As Intel continues to remain hush hush about their decision, it was CNBC who first reported that the company had shut down their entire unit and that they were now focusing on augmented reality.
Founding editor-in-chief & WearableTechStylist of FashNerd.com, Muchaneta has worked in the fashion industry for over 14 years. She is currently one of the leading influencers speaking and writing about the merger of fashion with technology and wearable technology and a regular contributor to digital news sites like Wareable.