How often do companies announce new products and then immediately leave the industry?

Jabra recently announced its exit from the earbud and headphone market, but not before unveiling two brand-new earbuds: the Elite 8 Active Gen 2 and the Elite 10. It was all rather strange. Launch brand-new premium products and then wave goodbye. This kind of behavior has us scratching our heads and wondering “Why would a company do that?”

Of course, this isn’t an isolated incident, and Jabra isn’t the first company to pull an old-fashioned “See ya later, alligator.” Many companies abandon their products – and their customers – raising questions about the complex relationship between market forces, corporate strategy, and the fast-evolving world of tech. Still, it is curious and deserves a deeper dive into why this happens.

Jabra’s exit

Business was good, but the future was not

Jabra made some fantastic wireless earbuds. These things packed a lot of the features you would find in brand-name earbuds like Pixel Buds or Galaxy Buds for a fraction of the price. Jabra is a Danish company and it’s been making audio-visual equipment since the early 80s. It seemed to have hit upon a winning formula with its Elite line of earbuds in more recent years.

The Elite 8 Active Gen 2 was designed for sports and fitness, giving you a snug fit while remaining sweat-resistant. The Elite 10, meanwhile, was Jabra’s earbuds for everyone else. Both sets of buds featured active noise cancellation and a unique LE audio charging case. Yet hours after unveiling the latest in the company’s lineup, Jabra’s parent company GN North Store announced it was leaving the headphone and earbud game.

“The markets have changed over time,” Peter Karlstromer, the company’s CEO, said in the press release. “And it is today our assessment that we cannot generate a fair return on investment compared to the many other opportunities we have within our hearing, enterprise, and gaming divisions.”

So there you have it. The decision was a strategic one driven by the vision to focus on more profitable ventures. But is that the only reason? What about companies such as LG, Nokia, and Bullitt Group?

Jabra isn’t the only one

Corporate abandonware happens all around us

LG ditched its smartphone business in 2021, and many people were rightfully upset. LG phones were decent, included headphone jacks and removable storage, and were among the best audiophile phones on the market. This was surprising because the company had a long and storied history in the mobile phone market and was considered one of the big players. LG even won design awards for its phones.

Then, there was Bullit, the maker of the rugged Cat phone. The company recently decided to shut down and brought to an end an era of durable smartphones for workers and campers alike.

Nokia ditched its iconic Symbian operating system and could never capitalize on the 41-megapixel PureView camera system. The company instead went all-in on Windows Phone.

All three companies had their reasons. LG struggled with brand identity in the age of Samsung and Apple smartphones. Bullit could never provide an exceptional experience. Its phones were mid, at best. Nokia’s decision to give up its dominance of the mobile phone market and put all of its eggs in Microsoft’s basket remains a head-scratcher.

Why companies change course

The reasons are often more ridiculous than they seem

These three examples are but a sampling of cases where companies simply abandoned their products. The reasons for ditching a product line differ, but there are common threads coursing through these decisions. These factors might shed some light on the weird and fast-moving tech industry.

Money: Cash is the main motivator. It doesn’t take an MBA to figure out that one. Companies often ditch products when they fail to meet targets or when development costs spiral out of control. For Jabra, they felt the investment required to keep their headphones relevant in the new age of AI-powered devices was not worth any returns. For LG, they had to shut down their smartphone division after many quarters of losses.

Strategy: Sometimes, a shift in corporate vision is all it takes to abandon a product line. As Google enthusiasts, we’re all painfully aware of this one. A company may decide to refocus on a shiny new product or prioritize resources on a more profitable division. This is what Nokia did when it believed Windows Phone was its future.

External factors: Tech is volatile and is heavily dependent on global supply chains. Regulatory challenges can alter an entire product line overnight. A disruption to supply chains or a large antitrust case can force a company to realign its priorities. Just ask Apple why it decided to introduce USB-C, sideloading, and allow users to arrange apps on their home screen however they like.

Plain old ignorance: Sometimes, the choice to ditch a product is not a strategic decision made by super-smart people in suits. Sometimes, it happens because someone high up in the food chain had a bad idea or was woefully out of touch with the times. Remember Windows Phone?

There will be more

As you can see, Jabra’s decision to ditch its earbuds line is not without precedent. It’s a harsh reminder that even successful companies can be fickle and leave popular products to rot on the vine. The reasons behind these decisions are often multifaceted, and it’s important to remember that many of these factors overlap. Financial pressure, shifting corporate vision, changes in the market, and sometimes just a dumb decision are all it takes. This means there will be many products abandoned by seemingly big corporations in the future.

It’s frustrating as consumers. We all miss the Zune player, the LG V60, and Google Inbox. Now, we can add Jabra earbuds to that list.