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Out for Amazon’s fitness tracker Halo
Amazon plans to cut around 27,000 jobs. photo
© Soeren Stache/dpa
Fitness trackers were once booming, but have now been pushed back by computer watches that promise more features. Amazon also reacts – and announces layoffs.
Amazon is exiting the fitness tracker business as part of its austerity measures. Launched in 2020, the product line, dubbed Halo, included bracelets and a device unveiled in September that tracks sleep data. Layoffs will also be associated with the end of the project, as Amazon announced on Wednesday.
Amazon boss Andy Jassy has ordered his company to go on austerity measures – including cutting around 27,000 jobs. The world’s largest online retailer had greatly expanded its workforce with a business boost during the pandemic. In the meantime, however, the economy has cooled off. There were already cuts in the equipment division at the beginning of the year.
Fitness trackers, which can count calories burned and heart rate, for example, were once booming, but have since been pushed back by computer watches with more functions. Amazon tried to score in the difficult business with unusual innovations: The first Halo Band was supposed to recognize the mood of users by analyzing their voice. The sleep tracker Halo Rise uses contactless radar technology.