Apple has pulled the Withings line of health care products from its online stores following the recent patent dispute with Nokia. Nokia purchased the Withings line of smart devices earlier this year for around $192 million and has since integrated the company into its smart line of products…
The removal was first reported by MacRumors. Apple pulled a similar tactic when its Beats unit went toe to toe with Bose over its NFL exclusivity contract in October 2014 and prior patent disagreements. After things were resolved in December 2014, Bose products returned to the Apple Store shelves.
Apple Retail Stores and Online Store represent a significant chunk of online sales and Apple apparently feels that it can use it as a strong arm bargaining chip in these types of negotiations.
Sadly, we’re big fans of Withings products over here, which now support HomeKit and of course they are available at other outlets.
Apple hasn’t pulled the Withings apps from the App Store yet but it probably wouldn’t hurt to download them if you think you will need them…just in case.
