Amazon-backed wearables company Thalmic Labs kills its Myo armband, teases new product

Canadian wearables company Thalmic Labs has announced that its ceasing sales of its gesture- and motion-guided Myo armband, as it looks to put all its efforts into an as-yet-undisclosed new product.
Founded in 2012, Ontario-based Thalmic Labs has raised north of $135 million in funding, the majority of which arrived via a series B round of funding two years ago with major backers including Amazon’s Alexa Fund and Intel Capital. The company has only really launched one product to date, the Myo, which leverages the electrical activity in your arm muscles to control devices such as drones, computers, smartphones, among other contraptions.
The $200 armband promised multiple use-cases. For example, it could help amputees gain control over a prosthetic hand, while surgeons could navigate screens while performing complicated surgery. DJ Armin van Buuren has also used Myo armbands to control lights and effects on stage.

At the time of its last round of funding, Thalmic Labs indicated that it was working on some new products, though it gave no indication that this would be at the expense of its one and only product to date.
“Today, as we reflect on that amazing journey, we’re officially ending sales of Myo,” noted Thalmic Labs cofounder Stephen Lake, in a Medium post. “In the near future we’ll be announcing the release of a new product, entirely different from Myo, that requires our full attention and focus.”
Those who have already purchased a Myo will continue to receive customer support, according to Lake, and it said that it plans to continue doing so long into the future. As for its next product, well, all he would say is that they would be announcing something “soon,” but some reports from last month suggested it could be some kind of smart glasses. But we’ll just have to wait and see.
Source: VentureBeat
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