Internal memo hints Nokia wants to stop selling hybrid smartwatches

A memo published online indicates that Nokia wants to stop selling hybrid smartwatches and other ‘Digital Health’ products to consumers. It is still unknown whether that will actually happen.

Nokia Steel HR

The Verge publishes the internal memo, in which Nokia CEO Kathrin Buvac explains why the company announced last week it was “exploring the strategic options” for its “Digital Health” division. That division makes products such as internet-connected scales, sleep sensors and hybrid smartwatches. Nokia took over the French Withings some time ago for that division.

Buvac says it has not yet been determined where the consideration of the strategic options will lead, but promises that affected employees will receive information about what will happen as soon as possible. Among other things, the sale of the division and its discontinuation seem to be among the possibilities.

The CEO claims that the division is not growing fast enough to have a place in a large company like Nokia in the long term. She doesn’t mention numbers. Buvac hints in the memo that the sale of products to consumers will stop. “Following the strategic choice we have made, we can focus and transform Nokia into a business-to-business company in telecom and industrial automation,” said the CEO. “We still have opportunities to capture the Internet-of-things opportunities in Digital Health with products, but no longer from a consumer perspective.” The division makes a lot of consumer hardware, such as a sleep tracker with ifttt support and the Steel HR, a hybrid watch with screen and heart rate monitor.