Microsoft Health – Life Support Withdrawn

I see that Microsoft has announced that it is pulling the plug on the Microsoft Health Dashboard applications and services. I can’t say I’m surprised; the writing has been on the wall ever since Microsoft dropped the Microsoft Band two years ago.

When the first version of the Microsoft Band was introduced in 2014, I thought that the most interesting thing was the backend services of Microsoft Health. The combination of Big Data and AI could have been game-changing, and as recently as a year ago Microsoft made a series of announcements to push this further.

It may well be that these cloud-based initiatives in conjunction with the medical industries will continue, and all that is now being killed off is the consumer-facing tier of products and services.

Still, I regret the demise of the Microsoft Band and its application services. Although the device was flawed physically (wristbands split all too easily and could not be replaced), the design of the functionality was very good. I eventually replaced my (third) Microsoft Band 2 with a FitBit Ionic smartwatch, and frankly, it’s not a patch on what the Band offered me.