Coin to shut down mobile payment services in February
It may be time to close your digital wallet.
Coin, a startup that developed a credit card-like replacement device, has announced that it will shut down all product services on February 28, 2017. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Fitbit purchased Coin back in May of last year, and Coin stopped all manufacturing and sales of its devices in June. The Coin app, through which users can sync credit cards and other payment options to their Coin device, will no longer be available for download. The mobile app will also stop working for current users and won’t be able to add card information.
While the app and other support services won’t be available, the actual Coin card should work as long as the built-in battery is still running. However, the batteries are only estimated for two years of life. Coin is also suspending all warranties as of today. Once the card is dead, it’s dead. And for the security conscious, Coin said that customer data “will be securely deleted from our servers, as they will no longer be running. The data that exists on your Coin will continue to be protected via your tap code, should you continue to use your Coin.”
This news does not bode well for customers of other companies recently purchased by Fitbit, namely Pebble. The Coin wasn't as successful as Pebble’s watches but still had a strong following. If this is any marker of history, support for existing Pebble smartwatches is not long for this world.
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