Various sources — including Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet — report that Microsoft has pulled all references to the Band fitness devices from the Microsoft Store online. She reports that the company responded to questions about the product with this:
We have sold through our existing Band 2 inventory and have no plans to release another Band device 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.
I spoke with Christina Chen, then Microsoft’s General Manager, Emerging Devices Experiences, back in February. Reviewing my notes, we spoke almost exclusively about watches, and the Band never came up. She left Microsoft in April, and is now product director at YouTube gaming. Hmmm.
At any rate, it looks like Microsoft is regrouping on wearables, although maybe it’s just doubling down on sectors where it has a real play, like Hololens.
