HTC delays release of the Grip fitness wearable into 2016

Anyone planning to purchase the HTC Grip fitness wearable will have to wait a little while longer.

Unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress, HTC said the Grip would ship sometime this spring. When spring came and went and the wearable did not make it to store shelves, the company then told tech outlets it had decided to push back the release of the Grip into the holiday shopping season. Now it appears the Grip won’t be available until sometime early in 2016. In a statement issued to the Phandroid, an HTC spokesperson had this to say about the delay:

“As we continue to develop the Connected Fitness platform and elevate our product offerings, Under Armour and HTC have decided to launch a fully integrated digital ecosystem of products early next year. This global launch will provide the tools needed to help athletes of all levels track, manage and improve their health and fitness. Our teams have done a remarkable job bringing these products to life and we’re excited to share them with the public soon.”

You’ll note that HTC doesn’t mention the Grip specifically; instead, it says something about a “fully integrated digital ecosystem”. Based on the company’s wording, it’s not a giant leap to speculate HTC plans to launch a family of activity trackers that includes the Grip as well as several other devices. We saw Fossil employ this strategy when it decided to enter into the wearables space. With HTC reportedly working on its own Android Wear smartwatch, it could plan to do the same.

Related: Hands-on with the HTC Grip

[source] Phandroid [/source]