Jawbone buys Massive Health and Visere to boost app design for wearables
Jawbone has been making real progress on the software for its tentative steps into wearable technology like the Up bracelet, but it's safe to say there's some room to grow. The company might just feel the same way in the wake of two key acquisitions centered on app interfaces and design. It just bought Massive Health, best known for its crowdsourced food app The Eatery, and Visere, a design house recognized for its work on both hardware and software. While Jawbone hasn't yet outlined its plans beyond scooping up the "best talent" for app development, Massive Health expects to maintain its namesake focus -- it doesn't see much work on Bluetooth audio in its future. However things shake out, it's clear software is about to play a larger role for our ears, wrists and beyond.
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JAWBONE® ACQUIRES VISERE AND MASSIVE HEALTH
Esteemed Talent Signals Jawbone's Commitment to App Development, User Experience, and Design
SAN FRANCISCO – Feb. 4, 2013 – Jawbone®, a leader and innovator in smart audio devices and wearable technology, today announced that it has acquired Visere and Massive Health as part of its venture to cultivate the industry's best talent in application development, user experience, and design. The Massive Health and Visere teams will join Jawbone's existing workforce.
"We're thrilled to add this world class talent to Jawbone. Bringing in great minds from both Massive Health and Visere will help us to develop software that's both simple and beautiful and build the very best integrated hardware, software, and data platforms in the world," said Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman. "Both companies have shown a deep understanding of the intricacies of designing engaging products and experiences, and we're eager to continue to harness talent of that caliber here at Visere is an innovative digital design firm that has worked with leading brands to develop engaging consumer experiences in both hardware and software.
"We share Jawbone's passion for creating delightful experiences that people want to engage with every day," said Visere founder Roberto Tagliabue. "And together, we'll be able to add a new level of digital experience expertise to Jawbone's category-defining products."
Founded in 2010, Massive Health is comprised of world-class talent from leading consumer software companies and is focused on making the world a healthier place by applying technology and design to health. Its iPhone app, The Eatery, enables people to improve their eating habits by snapping photos of their food and receiving crowd-sourced feedback.
"Our union with Jawbone marks a major step toward revolutionizing the way the world thinks about health," said Massive Health founder Aza Raskin. "Jawbone is leading the industry in product experience around mainstream consumer health, and we're looking forward to working with the team to develop the next generation of beautiful experiences."
For more information about Jawbone's products, please visit: www.jawbone.com.
