Fitness tracker firm Jawbone goes out of business, leaves customers hanging, in a case of ‘death by overfunding’
Things have gone all wrong for Jawbone, valued at US$3.2 billion just three years ago, as it goes into liquidation and does a disappearing act on its customers
Tech companies have gone out of business before, but they usually leave traces for consumer contact.
Jawbone, however, a maker of fitness trackers and Bluetooth speakers which is in the process of liquidating, is taking a different tack.
Visitors to its website – including the Hong Kong one that is in Chinese – see a company that looks like all is well, and is promoting products – except that there are no links to buy them. In the US, a phone number contact directs callers to a general voicemail box. Customers complain in online review forums of leaving many messages in e-mail and phone form that haven’t been answered.
How Jawbone is handling it “isn’t responsible”, says Gartner analyst Angela McIntyre. A Jawbone spokesperson had no comment.
Early this month tech industry website The Information reported on the liquidation proceedings, saying that co-founder and chief executive Hosain Rahman is starting a new company to make health-related hardware and software services.
Unlike Jawbone, several recent examples exist where makers of past tech fizzles did much more to reach out to their customers.