Jawbone reportedly in dire financial straits

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A colossus with clay feet? Last August, Jawbone was taken to court by its supplier Flextronics for a $ 20 million unpaid story. The case was brought under the table by the two parties who saw bad publicity in this trial. Jawbone and Flextronics finally reached an agreement quickly, although the terms were not published. The giant of Quantified Self would have mentioned a "communication problem", nothing to do with the group's finances therefore.

However, in the detailed hearing report that was recovered by Fortune, however, we see hints at Jawbone's troubling finances ("Jawbone’s financial condition is perilous and currently insufficient to pay its debts"), information that would have been confirmed by representatives of the brand directly to Flextronics executives before the trial.

Fortune magazine didn’t stop there since it did its little Jawbone investigation. In his conclusions, he says that if the start-up cannot finance its debts, it is simply because that it is not profitable. And this, despite the $ 471 million that Jawbone has raised in equity and debt in recent years. The delay in the production of its latest smart health connected bracelet – the UP3 – should not help it to consolidate its finances, with a Christmas period which would have been optimal to launch the product. The latest news is that the Jawbone UP3 release date will be pushed back to early spring.

This report is rather disturbing, especially since Jawbone is today considered to be a serious player in the Quantified Self market. Its latest bracelet, which was presented last November, already promises to be the next benchmark in the sector, with new features.

More than hardware, Jawbone recently announced a focus on its software and integration with other devices to strengthen its position. He also launched a marketplace a few days ago on which users can buy smart health connected objects compatible with the UP ecosystem. We thus find the Nest thermostat and the SmartThings health home automation kit alongside other mobile applications (MapMyFitness, Sleepio) on the store. At a conference at CES 2015, Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman stressed the importance of developing an open ecosystem to make the Internet of Things a real success …

Jawbone did not confirm these remarks, not wishing to openly discuss the state of its finances.

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