Meta stops releasing Portal products to the general public and focuses on professionals.
According to reports from The Information and Variety, Meta will no longer sell Portal products to the general public. Menlo Park would have made the decision to reposition its smart displays and home video camera line to make them products for professionals. Current consumer versions will be discontinued.
Meta stops releasing Portal products to the general public
According to Variety, Meta will sell all of its remaining inventory regardless of models and continue to support these devices for existing customers, but for now the company is reportedly focused on business applications for future and upcoming device releases. The portal never really caught on, falling far short of sales of smart displays from Amazon or Google, for example, but the numbers have risen significantly due to restrictions imposed by governments that have forced companies to work their employees from home.
and focuses on professionals
According to specialist firm IDC, Meta would sell 600,000 Portal products in 2020 and 800,000 in 2021, at a time when companies were looking for solutions to make it easier to communicate with their remote workers. Knowing that this particular situation is likely what has driven sales over the past two years, Meta could have made the decision today to focus on the professional market and move away from the general public. Meta has released several different models of its Portal line, including Portal TV, which turns the TV into a large smart display, and Portal Go, which can be detached from the dock and moved around the house.
In addition to discontinuing its Portal products to the general public, Meta has also made the decision to scrap the dual camera smartwatch project. Previous reports have suggested that this connected watch could compete with the Apple Watch, but Menlo Park now appears to be focusing on developing other wearables. To be continued!