Embattled Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC is seemingly betting big on the wearables segment. While the company’s foray into the Virtual Reality space with the Vive headset, has already generated a lot of press over the past several months, latest reports indicate that the company is apparently also looking to jump into the fitness band segment, currently dominated by companies like Fitbit and Jawbone. According to a post on the FCC website, a new smart band from HTC has just got the official regulatory approval, meaning, the company may not be a long way away from releasing the device in the U.S..
While details regarding the device are extremely sketchy right now, information available from the FCC listing tells us that it will definitely be a fitness band of some description, and will come with the model number 2PPN. The device also has an FCC ID of NM82PPN, and was received for testing on the 14th of July this year. FCC documents show that it was tested from the 17th of that month thru the 6th of this month, following which, the certificate was issued last Monday.
While most of HTC’s rivals in the smartphone industry are already well entrenched in the wearables market, the company based out of Taipei city is yet to introduce a smartwatch or a smart wristband properly. The company however, has been fixing to enter the fitness band market for a while now, and earlier this year, had also showcased a device called the HTC Grip, but the project fell through before it could see the light of day.
No hardware details are available as of now, and the only information gathered from the FCC website is that the band will be battery-powered and will support Bluetooth connectivity. There’s no word even on whether the device will come with a display or not. It’s worth remembering that the cancelled HTC Grip was to launch with a 1.8-inch OLED plastic screen that was supposed to have been capable of displaying notification from a smartphone synced to it. Whether the upcoming smart band from HTC expands on that idea and incorporates a display of some description remains to be seen, as also the number of sensors it comes with. With fitness bands available at a dime a dozen in the market, it will also be interesting to see how well the Taiwanese vendor will be able to differentiate its upcoming product from the multitude of companies vending a mind boggling array of activity trackers in all shapes and sizes and importantly – at all price points.
