Last August, Intel-owned Basis ran into troubles with its Peak smartwatch in which it was recalled. Instead of fixing the problem and re-releasing it, Intel decided that they were done with it and announced that they would be shutting down Peak’s software support, which seemed to suggest that the company was done with Basis.
Recently at CES 2017, Engadget’s Daniel Cooper managed to sit down and talk with Dr. Jerry Bautista, the VP of Intel’s wearables division. According to Engadget’s report, it seemed that Intel could be done releasing their own wearables in the future, or at least that’s the feeling they got from the interview.
In particular it seemed that Bautista’s response to Intel pursuing partnerships in favor of making their own wearables was what led to the conclusion. According to Bautista, the idea behind the partnerships is to allow Intel to address various parts of the market that they might not be able to do by themselves, like teaming up with TAG Heuer to target the luxury watch market, or New Balance where they get to target the sporting sector.
While Bautista never outright said that Basis was dead, the fact that partnerships seem to be Intel’s new focus, we guess if you’re hoping for new Basis products in the near future, maybe you shouldn’t hold your breath.
Filed in . Read more about CES, CES 2017, Intel and Wearable Tech.