Nokia’s return to the consumer market advanced a little further on Tuesday when it purchased the French company Withings, which makes devices designed to monitor health and activity.
The firm will become a part of the Nokia Technologies business unit, which is currently responsible for Nokia’s N1 tablet and Ozo camera. Currently Withings produces scales, activity trackers, monitoring cameras, sleep cameras and thermometers.
"We have said consistently that digital health was an area of strategic interest to Nokia, and we are now taking concrete action to tap the opportunity in this large and important market," said Rajeev Suri, president & CEO of Nokia in a statement posted on Nokia’s website.
"With this acquisition, Nokia is strengthening its position in the Internet of Things in a way that leverages the power of our trusted brand, fits with our company purpose of expanding the human possibilities of the connected world, and puts us at the heart of a very large addressable market where we can make a meaningful difference in peoples' lives."
Withings was founded in 2008 by CEO Cedric Hutchings, and has around 200 employees across France, the US and Hong Kong. Nokia expects to close the deal early in the third quarter of this year.