
Intel Acquires Basis Watch - kyledlloyd
http://wearableworldnews.com/2014/03/03/intel-acquires-basis-100m/
======
webwielder
Can someone explain to me Intel's continued fascination with being a consumer
company? From constant B2C advertising to their TV and wearable endeavors,
they seem to be fixated on being something they're not. Is it corporate
vanity? Is there a strategic motivation? If so, have any of their consumer
endeavors ever actually borne fruit? I guess it's reminiscent of Microsoft,
who don't seem to understand that Windows was not successful because consumers
liked it, but because businesses bought it.

~~~
PhantomGremlin
I think Intel's "strategic motivation" is simple. The US stock market demands
ever increasing revenues and earnings from a company. In order to achieve
that, often companies do something that the great Peter Lynch called
"diworsification" [0]:

    
    
       The term was coined by legendary investor Peter Lynch in his book, "One Up Wall Street," where he suggested that a business that diversifies too widely, risks destroying their original business, because management time, energy and resources are diverted from the original investment.
    

Without continuing earnings and revenue growth, a company is "dead" to much of
Wall Street.

I just posted another comment as to what IMO Intel should be doing instead.
They should "stick to the knitting". E.g. they could try to become a world
class foundry. They've got the fabs, they've got thousands of great engineers.
I guess that's just not as sexy as a watch that also measures your
perspiration.

[0]
[http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/diworsification.asp](http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/diworsification.asp)

~~~
webwielder
It's a shame that the one time event of going public dooms a company for
perpetuity to being subject to the unreasonable demands of shareholders, so
often ironically resulting in the downfall of the very value that was supposed
to rise as a result of said demands.

~~~
bryanlarsen
The alternative to diworsification would be share buybacks. That's a way to
increase your EPS without having to grow your earnings numbers.

Intel's diversification probably has more to do with internalization of the
mantra "if you're not growing, you're dying" than pressure from Wall Street.

~~~
PhantomGremlin
I'm in favor of diversification but not diworsification. E.g. when Apple
already makes an iPod and an iPhone then it's smart diversification to make an
iPad. That gets you growth without needing to resort to share buybacks.

Apple's smart growth is much better than the flailing growth that many
companies attempt. E.g. Google has search so Microsoft does Bing. Apple has
the iPod so Microsoft does the Zune.

New products are OK if they are clearly better than what is already out there,
but in Microsoft's case they weren't. Contrast with the iPhone. It was IMO
clearly better than what was already out there, if for no other reason than
Apple refused to be the wireless carriers' bitch.

But now even Apple is doing share buybacks, because they're running out of
smart diversification ideas. An iWatch wouldn't be big enough to provide
meaningful growth. I'm sure they'll eventually do it, but the law of large
numbers is no longer on Apple's side.

The example I gave of me wanting Intel to become a world class foundry is IMO
smart diversification. TSM's market cap is about $93 billion. So, clearly,
there's room for competition.

------
PhantomGremlin
Intel's been in the watch business before [0]. It didn't end well then, it
probably won't end well now. Hey, at least they didn't spend $19 billion for a
texting app.

[0]
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/320868833/?rb=1](http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/320868833/?rb=1)

~~~
jey
FB didn't spend $19B for a texting app. They spent $19B for a huge userbase in
parts of the world where FB doesn't have much market share. (And one with
considerable network effects leading to significant switching costs.)

I expect there to be some kind of onboarding of the WhatsApp customer base
onto FB as smartphones get adopted in those parts of the world.

~~~
PhantomGremlin
I know it was more than a texting app. Since this story was about Intel not
Facebook I probably shouldn't have thrown that line in. But here's why I did:

I'm sure there are all kinds of arguments, explanations, justifications,
rationalizations (call it what you will) for FB's purchase of WhatsApp. But my
gut feel is that it's not worth paying 1000x TTM revenues for it. Admittedly a
large part of the price was in stock not cash.

Same with Intel's purchase. My gut feel is they shouldn't be buying a watch
company. Intel has an _abysmal_ track record with acquisitions. I think it's a
sign that they're desperately flailing around. I'd rather see them try to
become a world class foundry. They certainly have the technology and
expertise, and it's much closer to the CEO's background. I.e. "stick to the
knitting".

------
rmc
My husband has one and wrote some Nagios checks which download the data over
the web. He's basically put himself on Nagios. We just gotta pay attention to
the "heart rate is CRITICAL" alerts now :P

[http://tomsalmon.eu/2013/12/data-download-and-nagios-
plugin-...](http://tomsalmon.eu/2013/12/data-download-and-nagios-plugin-for-
mybasis/)

~~~
matznerd
Are you a bot or something? You posted the exact same comment 4 times.

~~~
rmc
Nope, just copy & pasted the same comment to promote it, in all the places
it's relevant.

~~~
general_failure
The bots are getting better and better!

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blackdogie
How does the Basis rank against the other smart watches out there ? I see it's
priced higher, $199, where others come in at $100 - $150. The one difference I
see is that it can do heart rate monitoring, and a lot of the competition
can't (yet).

It's nice to see that they have an API to export your data too.

~~~
pisarzp
It also measures your perspiration.

They focused on gamification and achievements you can unlock ("slept full 8
hours" etc). However it lacks any wireless connectivity, so you need to plug
to your computer to download data every day.

I thought it's the most interesting of all smart devices, but I was looking
for next gen which hopefully would be wireless and smaller.

~~~
rmc
> However it lacks any wireless connectivity, so you need to plug to your
> computer to download data every day.

Recent ones sync automatically over bluetooth with an smartphone

------
CmonDev
I still haven't forgiven them the Project Offset death:
[http://kotaku.com/5577979/intels-project-offset-game-
cancell...](http://kotaku.com/5577979/intels-project-offset-game-cancelled)

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akuma73
Intel - where startups go to die.

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drakaal
Intel is clearly looking at wearable and embedded spaces. This seems like a
lot to pay for something that doesn't have the install base of Fitbit, or
Fuel.

I can't imagine basis had any tech that Intel couldn't replicate, and this
seems like too much for talent acquisition.

Not what I would drop $100M on if I was Intel.

~~~
sliverstorm
Word is Intel has one rule, and only one rule:

 _Keep the fab full_

The rest of the company exists to feed the fab. So it doesn't surprise me, the
lengths they are going in an effort to get Intel silicon into more devices
(and more types of devices), especially after they missed the smartphone wave.

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tehwalrus
I really like my Basis smartwarch - I've only not worn it about 5 days in the
last 6 months (since it arrived). I hope they keep the web software running
for years to come, the thing is very cloud dependant!

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mahyarm
I wonder if this will make an API less or more likely. #1 complaint with the
watch. Simple stuff like wifi weight scale and runkeeper cardio integration
would be pretty nice!

Otherwise congrats to the company!

~~~
rmc
There's no offical API, but you can figure out the HTTP calls to make. My
husband wrote some Nagios checks for himself. We just gotta pay attention to
the "heart rate is CRITICAL" alerts now :P

[http://tomsalmon.eu/2013/12/data-download-and-nagios-
plugin-...](http://tomsalmon.eu/2013/12/data-download-and-nagios-plugin-for-
mybasis/)

------
matznerd
I predict wearables, specifically smartwatches, are the next huge consumer
category. The tipping point to mainstream will occur when the fashion of the
watches catches up with the technology.

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rd108
Congrats Basis!

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HaloZero
Damn't, that was my favorite watch on the market. Hopefully they support
export of data :(

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csense
Wearable computing. Cutting edge technology. Wait a minute...

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_%26_Watch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_%26_Watch)

~~~
nekopa
Did you mean

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelsonic_Industries](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelsonic_Industries)

?

