The slow and painful demise of Jawbone is finally coming to an end, as yet another effort to rejuvenate the business is beginning under a familiar name. After a multi-year struggle to maintain relevance in the consumer wearable market, Jawbone is now liquidating — and thanks to an injection of capital from a new, unnamed investor, some of the driving forces behind the original company are forming a new business called Jawbone Health Hub[1].
The move was first noted in a report by The Information[2], and TechCrunch has since independently confirmed the findings with a source close to the matter. It’s not a particularly surprising bit of news — CEO Hosain Rahman has been planning an exit from the consumer market for some time now. We reported earlier this year that the executive was planning to shift the company toward clinical health services[3], rather than continuing to compete with the Fitbits of the world. The same source has since confirmed the new focus.
In spite of the confusingly similar name, Jawbone Health Hub is a new company with a new, unrelated investor — though some employees have reportedly begun transitioning over to the new team. The company has also posted multiple job listings as Jawbone Health[4], seeking hardware and software developers and confirming the shift in strategy from the consumer to the clinical. According to its own description,
Jawbone Health is at the forefront of revolutionizing primary care for millions of patients worldwide. Combining more than 20 years of proprietary wearable technology with clinically relevant signals, Jawbone Health connects patients and physicians like never before with continuous, data-driven dialogue. This unique position of daily directed guidance stands to...