Nokia today announced that its acquisition of Withings has closed “earlier than had been expected.” It had first announced its intention to acquire the French company back in late April in a bid to accelerate its entry into the wearables space.
With the Withings acquisition, Nokia has established a new Digital Health business unit. It will bring together employees from Nokia Technologies’s preventive health and patient care teams and former Withings employees. It will be led by Cédric Hutchings, the former Withings CEO, who will in turn report to Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies.
“This is the beginning of an exciting new chapter in the history of Nokia Technologies as we extend our product portfolio to include a series of powerful digital health technologies,” said Ramzi Haidamus, president, Nokia Technologies. “The Nokia brand is synonymous with innovation, connectivity and consumer technology and the acquisition of Withings puts us in a perfect position to capitalize on the huge opportunity in the health space. We’re excited to welcome the Withings team to the Nokia family.”
Among the products that we can expect to see from the Nokia Digital Health will be activity trackers, smart body analyzer scales, thermometers, blood pressure monitors, home and baby monitors and more. Most if not all of these will connect to a digital health platform that will support healthy living.
Nokia completed the Withings acquisition for €170 million (about US$190 or CA$246 million).
Source : Nokia