The company has cancelled the launch of its debut wearable, the fitness-centric Grip. HTC has instead opted to “align Grip with the entire product portfolio for health fitness launching later this year,” (whatever that means) according to Engadget. The Grip we saw at Mobile rld Congress earlier this year might look a little different when it’s re-announced this fall, which is interesting considering a fitness b from HTC just recently received its Bluetooth certification. rhaps that’s the one coming out later this year? The rubbery, lime-green Grip, which the company partnered with Under Armour to produce, featured a OD screen internal G so that you didn’t have to carry your phone with you to log your workout. Aesthetically, it was very sporty, but functionally, it wasn’t offering anything that really differentiated it from the many other wearable fitness trackers. The story behind the story: HTC’s finances have been the talk of the town recently, despite some of the more exciting projects it has going on. HTC’s mobile business has been on the decline for a couple years now. For its part, HTC has been pretty quiet this year. It launched the One M9 then sort of faded into the background as other Android players have advanced with their own flagship products. ly, even if it does launch a family of fitness-centric wearables, that won’t do much to put HTC back in the spotlight. It’s nice that the company is trying to diversify its product portfolio, but it needs them to be a big hit if it’s going to balance out the losses from a reduced smartphone business.
