Amazon has showed that its Halo Health department shall be close down on July 31. These units will forestall functioning in August. Amazon additionally discussed that the {hardware} shall be recycled. On this observe, the corporate additionally introduced layoffs affecting the Halo divisions and in addition promised shoppers complete refunds on {hardware} bought over the last yr.
What this implies for Halo customers
The refunds introduced by way of the corporate are an indication of goodwill for patrons. Amazon additionally recognizes the truth that the {hardware} would possibly not be value a lot when its related services and products close down. The corporate has additionally made up our minds to finish subscription charges on Halo units and services and products. It can even be offering refunds to shoppers who’ve already pre-paid for this sort of subscriptions.
In a letter shared with Halo customers, the corporate stated, “At Amazon, we think big, experiment, and invest in new ideas like Amazon Halo in our efforts to delight customers.
Why Amazon is shutting down Halo
In January, the tech giant laid off 18,000 employees and last month it announced 9,000 more job cuts. These layoffs affected Amazon’s hardware divisions which included the company’s Alexa and Echo teams. Amazon seems to be shutting down its Halo division as part of its wider layoffs plans.
The company also doesn’t seem to have offered much warning before announcing its latest job cuts. Amazon said, “We notified impacted employees in the US and Canada today. In other regions, we are following local processes, which may include time for consultation with employee representative bodies and possibly result in longer timelines to communicate with impacted employees. For employees who are impacted by this decision, we are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.”
Privacy concerns against Halo tracker
The original Halo tracker which was launched in 2020 also faced some privacy concerns. According to a report by TechCrunch, US Senator Amy Klobuchar shared her concerns regarding the issue.
Klobuchar said, “I really do think there’s got to be rules in place. The reason I’m writing HHS is because they should play a larger role in ensuring data privacy when it comes to health, but between the HHS and the Federal Trade Commission, they’ve got to come up with some rules to safeguard private health information. . And I think the Amazon Halo is just the ultimate example of it, but there’s a number of other devices that have the same issues. I’m thinking there’s some state regulations going on and things like that, and we just need federal standards.”