Now that's a turn up for the books...
Nokia has confirmed that is has entered negotiations to sell its Digital Health business to (drum roll please), Withings.
The Finnish tech giant has announced it plans to sell the division responsible for devices like the Nokia Steel HR hybrid smartwatch and its smart scales to Éric Carreel, the co-founder and former chairman of Withings.
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Apparently the sale is subject to terms being agreed in the negotiations and completion of the information consultation with the Works Council of Nokia Technologies. A deal is expected to be completed in late Q2 2018.
If you’ve been following the story closely (like we have), Nokia launched a strategic review of its Digital Health business back in February this year and included Nokia’s consumer and enterprise products. A leaked memo from the company revealed that it “didn’t see a path forward” for the struggling division.
Then came the rumours that big hitters like Nest and Samsung were among the companies interested in acquiring Nokia Health. But now it appears one of the men who said yes to Withings being sold to Nokia for €170 million in 2016 is buying it back.
So what does that mean for the future of wearables like the Steel HR or the Sleep tracker that was recently launched by Nokia? Hopefully it means these devices will live on and maybe get rebadged again. After all, these were essentially Withings devices rebranded with a few extras added in. We’ve always had a soft spot for Withings and its connected health vision, and we recently talked about what Nokia got wrong with its Health business after acquiring the company.
Maybe it’s not all doom and gloom for that Digital Health business after all and maybe we will see more of the innovation that no doubt convinced Nokia to buy Withings in the first place.
Source: Nokia
