Apple and Fitbit are about to lose a competitor because Jawbone is ready to shut down its consumer fitness tracker business. The company is shifting to devices for health care providers.
The business change, which was confirmed by TechCrunch, comes in the wake of reports that Jawbone has run out of money. Currently, the company is lining up new investors as it shifts to what it hopes will be a higher margin market.
Jawbone’s Changing Fitness Focus
For Jawbone, the hope is that the fourth time is a charm. The company started as a headset maker, shifted to speakers, and then on to its wearable fitness trackers. Jawbone’s fitness trackers faced mixed reviews, but it’s hoping to have better luck with its devices for health care providers.
Jawbone is also planning to develop its own software-based services to go along with the health devices. Assuming both are successful, Jawbone will transform into a hardware company with higher margin products, and a software company with a recurring revenue model.
The move out of the consumer market isn’t much of a surprise considering the limited success Jawbone has had. The company never could catch up with Fitbit, or Apple once the Apple Watch hit store shelves.
What Jawbone has going for it is tenacity. The company has reinvented itself three times already, so making a change again is reasonable. The big question now is whether or not Jawbone can find enough money to transform itself into a health care provider product company before it has to close its doors.