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Fitbit's Revenues Triples on Strong Sales of Wearable Fitness Trackers

Accepted submission by takyon at 2015-11-03 08:30:10
Techonomics

Fitbit, makers of the eponymous fitness tracking wearable device, is seeing fattening revenues [bbc.com]:

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 [theguardian.com]:

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 [techcrunch.com], claiming that Fitbit is "willfully misusing its patents as part of its efforts to protect its market power".


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