When HTC introduced its Watch service back in 2011, it was a pretty exciting announcement. The company decided to begin allowing its customers to stream movies, television shows, and music right onto their mobile devices, giving both the option to either rent or purchase.
However, according to a report by Telefonino, the company recently announced that, by the end of the month, it will be shutting down the service in six different European countries: Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. Some rumors actually report that service in Italy will be discontinued by May 15.
The official word from the company is that it is looking to focus more on the markets with the highest engagement with the streaming service. However, as Engadget pointed out, the delay in shipping out the HTC One flagship phone earlier this year is likely the catalyst that caused the company to experience the lowest sales in its history in Q1 this year. So it could very well mean that this service cut is actually a means to reduce expenses as HTC tries to recover from its previous loss. Around this time last year, HTC shut down many of its other cloud services, like contact and text message backup.
Until the service is terminated, users will still be able to download content as they have been all along. And the company assures customers in the selected countries that, even once Watch has been terminated, all downloaded content will still be available, so previous expenditures will not be lost (at least, for now).
Markets that aren’t being terminated should see Watch continue on as seamlessly as normal. But knowing that HTC is okay with cutting the service if usage is less than satisfactory, there’s no telling when (or if) another round of terminations could take place.
Are you an HTC Watch user? What do you think of the service? Would you be upset if it was suddenly unavailable? Let us know in the comments below.
