Microsoft is apparently killing off its Band fitness tracker line, pulling the Microsoft Band 2 from its store with no plans to release a new model.
The original Band and its successor, the Band 2, are reportedly enough for the company, and Microsoft is now giving up on its fitness tracker dreams.
The newer Band 2 has now been completely removed from the Microsoft Store, indicating that Microsoft has stopped production altogether. The device is also gone from Best Buy, albeit Amazon is still selling it until it runs out of stock.
Moreover, ZDNet reports that Microsoft has no plans to refresh the line with a new iteration this year, so a Band 3 is not in the cards. The company has also reportedly dissolved the team behind the Microsoft Band, casting further doubts on the future of the wearable.
In addition, the Microsoft Band software developer kit (SDK) is no longer available either, but that's not very surprising, considering that the Band 2 is gone.
Microsoft launched the original Band back in 2014 and released the new and improved Band 2 in October 2015, so many were expecting a new iteration this time.
However, ZDNet reached out to Microsoft and received confirmation that the company did indeed sell through its existing Microsoft Band 2 inventory and doesn't plan on releasing a new Band wearable 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," Microsoft further told ZDNet.
Consequently, even if Microsoft is dropping the Band line of hardware altogether, it will still keep offering its Health service and supporting existing devices. The company wants to push its Microsoft Health as a platform for health and fitness insights for all devices and operating systems, so the Band 2 demise will have no impact on that.
That said, Microsoft did not specifically say that it will never introduce another Band wearable, but for now it does look like the end of the line for the fitness tracker.
With no Microsoft Band 3 this year, the company is expected to focus its efforts and resources on its Surface line, the Xbox consoles and its much-touted HoloLens augmented reality (AR) headset, which is still in development.
It remains to be seen what the company has in store, but we'll keep you posted as soon as we get more details.
