Fans of Microsoft"s Band fitness trackers are in for more bad news today, as the company has pulled its listings for the Band 2 from its online stores. Searching for the device now will show a number of Rock Band 4 products, as well as a link to the Microsoft Health app (which was renamed to Microsoft Band, although you"ll only see it listed as such after you click on it).
The firm confirmed to ZDNet"s Mary Jo Foley today that not only is it not selling the device online anymore, but there is no Band 3 coming this year.
We have sold through our existing Band 2 inventory and have no plans to release another Band device this year. We remain committed to supporting our Microsoft Band 2 customers through Microsoft Stores and our customer support channels and will continue to invest in the Microsoft Health platform, which is open to all hardware and apps partners across Windows, iOS, and Android devices.
The rumors of Microsoft not releasing a Band 3 this year started up a few weeks ago. It was reported that the team that was meant to bring Windows 10 to the company"s wearable was dis-Band-ed (yup, we went there).
Note that this does not mean that there will never be a new Band from Microsoft, or that the company is done with wearables. It certainly doesn"t seem likely at this point that we"ll ever see anything with the Band name again.
The Health platform will continue to live on, which is truly peculiar, since the firm went through all of the trouble of rebranding its Health apps on iOS, Android, and Windows to Microsoft Band.