The company has announced that the Wear-based wearables it launched in August 2021 are done.
Designer fashion brand Fossil recently announced that it intends to leave smartwatches in the past, and that it will be stepping out of this market altogether.
This announcement was made despite the number of customers awaiting the next generation devices.
Fossil Group first rolled out its smartwatches in August 2021. At that time, its wearables were based on the Wear Gen 6 operating system. A number of other devices in the lineup were announced after that date, including the Wellness Edition. That said, many of the label’s fans had been eagerly awaiting the Gen 7 devices that were expected to launch at some date in the not-too-distant future.
Unfortunately to those who had been hoping to own one of those gadgets, according to Fossil’s announcement, those wearables are no longer slated for release. The company is leaving that business altogether.
Fossil calls its exit from smartwatches a “strategic decision” to focus resources on its core business.
“As the smartwatch landscape has evolved significantly over the past few years, we have made the strategic decision to exit the smartwatch business,” said Amanda Castelli, Fossil Group spokesperson. “Fossil Group is redirecting resources to support our core strength and the core segments of our business that continue to provide strong growth opportunities for us: designing and distributing exciting traditional watches, jewelry, and leather goods under our own as well as licensed brand names.”
To some, this decision did not come as much of a surprise. Within the last few weeks, reports had been emerging that Fossil was considering withdrawal from Wear OS-based wearable devices. Moreover, the brand had been selling some of its existing smartwatches at steep discounts. While some people interpreted this as a way to clear inventory during and following the holiday season in preparation for the launch of the next generation device, others saw this as confirmation that Fossil no longer expected to be a part of this market at all.
Still, despite Fossil’s exist from selling smartwatches, it did confirm that support such as updates would continue for its existing devices “for the next few years.”
