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from the for-geeks-they-are-creating-fitbytes dept.
Fitbit, makers of the eponymous fitness tracking wearable device, is seeing fattening revenues:
Fitbit the maker of wearable activity monitors, tripled its third quarter sales - capitalising on the popularity of wearable fitness technology. The company brought in $409.3m (£265.5m) in the third quarter compared to $152.9m in the same period the year before. Fitbit sold 4.8 million devices between July and September compared with 2.3 million in the third quarter of 2014.
Fitbit's CEO James Park has dismissed the impact of the Apple Watch:
On a conference call with investors, Park said that the rollout of other smart watches, which often come with a step-tracker similar to Fitbit's main function, did not have impact on the company's growth. When asked about Apple's new watch specifically, he said it had "no material impact". He added that Apple and Fitbit cater to "two very different segments in the market" in terms of price point and use. The price range for Fitbit devices, most often worn as a wristband, is $60 to $250. Apple Watch starts at $349 and can cost more than $1,000.
[...] Prior to the company's IPO, Park told CNBC that the company can remain competitive, despite the new players such as Apple Watch. "There's over $200bn of consumer spending on health and fitness. This is a massive market. There's room for more than one dominant player," he said. "The brand Fitbit is really synonymous with health and fitness tracking, so we feel that we have really significant competitive differentiators in the market."
Fitbit sued Jawbone, another company making fitness trackers, in September. Jawbone has filed a countersuit, claiming that Fitbit is "willfully misusing its patents as part of its efforts to protect its market power".
[We ran the story Wearable Tech Market To Treble In Next Five Years just a few days ago. -Ed.]
(Score: 2) by Daiv on Wednesday November 04 2015, @11:12PM
I've had the Fitbit Surge for about 4 months now. I can say that it does everything I want a smartwatch to do. Time, heart rate, pedometer, timer, very readable, great battery life. Most importantly, shows me incoming phone call numbers and let's me read incoming text messages. I don't care one bit about being able to send messages from it. This week has been my perfect scenario for why I wanted a smartwatch. I've been training someone all day, I get a text. I'm not going to pull out my phone and be a rude jerk. I glance at my watch, see the text and when one was important, I finished the item I was training on, called for a break. The rest, I had no concern about delving into or addressing until I had time.
Slightly thicker than I'd prefer as I can't button the sleeves of a couple of my shirts while wearing it and still access it.
Surge version 2 may perfect what I want. Make it a little slimmer, allow me to keep up notifications for a few more seconds, make buttons easier to navigate.
All that said, I'd still like to get whatever the next Apple Watch is. First Gen is just much thicker than I'd like.
Things don't always have to be either/or. There are days I'd prefer to wear my Surge and days I'd like to use another watch.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Wednesday November 04 2015, @11:16PM
What about the lack of privacy? Meaning, I think I would love a Fitbit, but I abso-fucking-lutely refuse to add permanent trackers to myself. I got rid of my smartphone for that reason and moved to a randomized burner phone model where I'm doing quite well at the Disrupt portion of A.D.B.B (suggested by Bruce Sheirer).
If it had something akin to a stand-alone operation I would love to have it. Wonder how much information it leaks and shares.....
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by Adamsjas on Thursday November 05 2015, @04:39AM
I think a stand alone server side might be pretty nice. There is an opportunity there for somebody to write that app and sell it either with or around the original vendor.
I don't know how much of the Fitbit shares with Just your Phone, vs some website.
Realistically, I don't see what advantage there would be to any company to gather information on your workout. What are they going to try and sell you, fresh socks? Who would pay for that information? Especially when you sign up with some fake name.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday November 04 2015, @11:27PM
What the hell... didn't even realize that Fitbit made a product that paired to phones / mimics Pebble or Apple Watch.
Even with Apple Watch falling far short of the hype that company is making lots of profit off of it. Apple should wait for its shares to drop, buy them back, and enjoy the power afforded by having $100 billion+ in cash.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday November 05 2015, @01:10AM
Wow, i though the Microsoft new model was high priced. But at least it actually had an extensive suite of sensors and functionality.
$250 for either of them. The Surge looks clunky and huge by comparison.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Thursday November 05 2015, @01:53AM
Comparison article: http://techgadgetcentral.com/2015/10/11/fitbit-surge-vs-microsoft-band-2-best-tracking-system-in-2015/ [techgadgetcentral.com]
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Daiv on Thursday November 05 2015, @04:00PM
If I hadn't gotten the Surge at a *huge* discount, I would have gotten the MS Band. My father has one and I'm rather impressed with that as well. That's why I think Surge 2 will likely fulfill the originals shortcomings. Fitbit has to see MS's success in designing the Band and I think Band 2 is going to raise the stakes.