Martian is closing down the company, which is particularly bad news for anyone that backed the Martian mVoice G2 hybrid smartwatch on Kickstarter last year.

The US-based smartwatch maker revealed the bad news to backers of its next generation mVoice in a campaign update that reads, "It is with great sadness and regret that we have decided that we have no other choice but to shut down operations and close the company."

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Despite raising almost $300,000 to bring the project to life and shipping just 480 units to backers in April 2018, the company ran out of money to complete production. Having failed to find funding from potential new investors and current investors, Martian had no other choice but to shut things down.

Martian started its wearable journey back in 2007, launching a series of smartwatches, including a collaboration with US fashion brand Guess for its Connect watches. It was also the first company to bring Amazon Alexa to a smartwatch, when it added support for the smart assistant to its first generation mVoice watch, as well as Guess Connect watches.

The mVoice G2 promised to add additional smart assistant support bringing Siri and Google Assistant to the party, along with a radical new look to give the MyKronoz ZeTime a run for its money.

But there will be a lot of backers (there were 2,304 in total) that will not get the hybrid watch they were promised. It's also not clear if there will be anything in the way of refunds, but Martian hopes to provide an update on the situation in the next 30 days. That means it could be a frustrating wait for those that parted with around $100 or more to own one.

Ultimately, though, it's another company that has exited the world of wearables, and that's always disappointing hear. While we weren't always blown away by its smartwatches, Martian did bring some great, innovative ideas to the table and more than played its part in the rise of the hybrid smartwatch. Hopefully the team that brought those connected watches to life will still be able to share their expertise elsewhere. Pour one out for the Martian crew.

Source: Android Police



