Amazon quietly scrapped a four-year-old project to develop a fertility-tracking device and smartphone app
Amazon’s 2020 acquisition of bluDiagnostics, a startup that was developing a device that measured the levels of estradiol and progesterone, two of the hormones responsible for fertility in women, from saliva samples, gave rise to the project, which was known by the codename “Encore.”
According to the report, Amazon intended to introduce the product this year; however, the team of approximately 100 team members encountered technical difficulties. Encore was a component of Amazon’s Grand Challenge initiative, a clandestine laboratory renowned for undertaking ambitious or moonshot projects like cancer research.
Since 2022, Andy Jassy, the organization’s CEO, has implemented a cost-cutting strategy. He terminated numerous experimental projects, such as a virtual tour product and an AR headset for meetings, and eliminated 27,000 positions.