According to a report that originated with CNBC and has been widely circulated, Intel completely eliminated the group concerned with wearables earlier this month.

The Intel website still has its Wearable Technology page, which prominently depicts a range of Smartwatches, gives links to partners for fitness monitors, and features one of the extravagant dresses that we have come to associate with Intel.

While this site suggests that nothing has changed CNBC reports:

Intel has axed the division that worked on health wearables, including fitness trackers, according to a person familiar with the matter.

While the axe finally fell only a couple of weeks ago, the source of CBNC's intelligence, said that in fact it was back in November that about 80% of the group has been dismissed or redeployed.

It was January 2014 when Brian Krzanich first showed off a range of wearables at CES and Intel launched a campaign asking developers to "Make It Wearable". Within a couple of months Intel paid around $100 million (or possibly a lot more) for Basis, thereby acquiring the smartwatch health tracker team the remnants of which have now been disbanded.

In January 2015 the Curie, was announced at CES and launched at the Intel Developer Forum that year. A button-like device, the Curie contains a complete Intel Quark SoC and has 384K of Flash and 80K of SRAM to run the open source RTOS operating system. It  also crams in Bluetooth LE, DSP hub and 6-axis accelerometer and gyro. 

At that time Intel's enthusiasm for both wearables and IOT seemed unassailable - even if the dress sense was bizarre - and its commitment to its developer community also seemed strong.

How things change. The Intel Developer Forum was itself a casualty. As we reported in April, the event has now been permanently cancelled. Then in June came the news that Intel was withdrawing for IoT with the discontinuation of the Edison, Galileo and Joule with an announcement made by Intel, which made no mention of the Curie. 

Encourage by this, we regarded the Curie was seen as the last chip on the table, but now it looks as if we were probably wrong to think that it would escape unscathed.

CBNC's report suggests that while Wearables are no longer part of Intel's wardrobe, Augmented Reality is still in focus. But perhaps we should view this with caution.

Intel is again guilty of encouraging developers to embrace its technologies and then leave them in the lurch with no future prospects.

More Information

CNBC - Intel Eliminates Wearables Division

Intel Wearable Technology

Related Articles

Intel Asks Us To Make It Wearable

Intel's Make It Wearable - Development Track 

Intel Drops Edison, Galileo & Joule 

Intel Cancels Developer Forum Permanently

Intel Boss Controls Robot Spider Army - With A Curie 

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