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Fitbit Acquires Coin
- PaulHoule 10y agoOuch. Coin was a company that stood by it's products, Fitbit is the kind of outfit that will find any lame excuse to not issue you an RMA.
- taylorwc 10y agoInteresting. I've had a Fitbit since 2012 (the Ultra) and have had almost uniformly positive experiences with customer service.
- dowskitest 10y agoAgreed. I had a brief (~10m) online chat and then received a new Charge HR a couple days later for one with a broken power connector.
- deadlycrayon 10y agoSame here. Customer service was great at replacing my fitbit four times. Needless to say, I don't use fitbits anymore.
- iamdave 10y agoEchoed. Bought a Fitbit Charge a few years ago, band started separating, I tweeted them and got a response within 20 minutes, and a new Fitbit Charge about 8 days later. I've since upgraded to the Charge HR.
- lfowles 10y agoI lost my cheapo fitbit at the car dealership (it clipped onto the seatbelt of a certain car I test drove), and Fitbit sent it back after it was found.
- thebiglebrewski 10y agoCoin did not work for me at like 40-60% of stores I tried it at. When I tried to get a refund they claimed it was unreturnable and could only refund 50% of the money I paid for it. I wouldn't exactly say they had a good product or stood by it, this seems like an acquihire to me. They did try hard to do something that many said would be impossible, which is HARD, I'll give them that!
- mmanfrin 10y agoCoin was a company that stood by it's products I definitely had a different experience than you did. Preordered a coin, 2 years later still had not arrived and yet the world had moved on from magnetic stripes.
- dmethvin 10y agoGot the original Coin, it was defective and I was sent another one. I used it on a transaction and it charged a card different than the one showing on the display. By then most of my frequent buys were at stores that take chip cards so I stopped carrying it. Still waiting for my Coin 2.0 that should have shipped in Q1.
- JoshTriplett 10y ago> the world had moved on from magnetic stripes Here in the pacific northwest, a rather high-tech area, perhaps one out of ten shops/merchants I use actually supports some manner of NFC payments, while everyone supports magnetic stripes. Any payment mechanism that only works with NFC is DOA for me.
- gkoberger 10y agoI think they meant chip-and-PIN, not NFC.
- JoshTriplett 10y agoAh. In that case: perhaps two out of ten of the shops/merchants I use support (but don't require) chip-and-PIN. But yes, any new payment mechanism based on magnetic stripes should absolutely support chip-and-PIN.
- jjuel 10y agoI had completely forgot I preordered a coin until it showed up. By that point I had no use for it. Literally have not used it once.
- 10y ago
- bentlegen 10y agoThis is the product (Coin 2.0) that has not even been out a year, cost as much as $100, and will become a brick in under 2 years with its built-in obsolescence?
- joelrunyon 10y agoRMA?
- twentythree 10y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_merchandise_authorization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_merchandise_authorizati...
- dsugarman 10y agoReturn Merchandise Authorization. It's approval to return the product and it is a number you put on the shipping label when you return it so the company knows to refund you on receipt assuming it passes QC.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- jasonellis 10y agoI've had problems with 2 of the 4 Fitbit devices me and my wife have owned. Her Flex was intermittently powering off. I contacted support and they sent a new one within days. My current Charge HR (bought in October) band started bubbling and pulling apart. I contacted support last week and a replacement device should arrive tomorrow. I think they required receipt information for the Flex (that was a few years ago). For the Charge HR, they just asked me where I bought it and what country I live in, then offered a replacement. Fitbit devices haven't shown good durability, in my experience, but the company has proven very willing to replace defective devices.
- spjwebster 10y agoI've had very much the opposite experience with Fitbit, twice. 1. I had an old FitBit Ultra that stopped syncing to the base station. They sent me a replacement base station but that didn't work, but I forgot to follow it up. Fast forward a year and I find my (now out of warranty) Fitbit in the back of my Man Drawer. I dropped them an email on the off chance that they'd take a look at it for me and instead they sent me a free Fitbit One. 2. My wife dropped her Fitbit One on the school run and didn't notice until later in the day. On the way back to pick up our daughter she found her Fitbit by the side of the road with half of the electronics hanging out due to having been under more than a few car tyres. I suggested contacting Fitbit to see if it could be repaired or if they offered refurbished units, and again they sent her a brand new Fitbit One completely free of charge. I'm sure the level of customer support varies geographically, but since the above I've had nothing but good things to say about Fitbit UK's customer support.
- pkill17 10y agoCoin stood by nothing, not even their early backers. I'm genuinely upset they got our money and sold out, making more money. I wish they went up in flames and died out for the horrific user experience I and other backers experienced.
- jasonlaramburu 10y agoCoin had a raised a decent amount of Venture Capital, so it's likely there were other stakeholders and voices at the table in the decision. It's not uncommon for a VC to demand a board seat when they lead a funding round, and it's also not uncommon for a VC with said board seat to push for a modest exit to cover their downside when things aren't working out.
- DaiPlusPlus 10y agoDoes Coin have a future business model given the introduction of EMV? Did Fitbit just waste money buying them?
- Sidnicious 10y agoCoin 2.0 supports it via NFC (through agreements with banks, similar to Apple Pay, AFAIK). That's what Fitbit would want.
- abalone 10y agoCoin 2.0 does not support EMV. They used slippery marketingspeak to dance around the subject (saying NFC enables "EMV payment standards") but the bottom line is your chip card would only work with Coin by reverting to traditional static magnetic stripe data.
- Sidnicious 10y agoCould you elaborate on this? Apple Pay et. al are "contactless EMV", and Coin very explicitly says that they support it for some banks: https://support.onlycoin.com/hc/en-us/articles/207353218-What-is-EMV-and-NFC- https://support.onlycoin.com/hc/en-us/articles/207353218-Wha...
- abalone 10y agoNo, they don't say that on the page you linked.
- Sidnicious 10y ago> Coin 2.0 is equipped with contactless NFC technology that increases merchant compatibility and allows users to transact using EMV payment standards.
- abalone 10y ago
- jlas 10y agoIs there any mention of how much the deal was worth? Seems like mostly an acquihire, does Coin even have a steady revenue stream?
- brlewis 10y agoNothing about how much the deal was worth. Regarding acquihire, "the acquisition accelerates Fitbit’s ability to develop an active NFC payment solution that could be embedded into future Fitbit devices, broadening its smart capabilities. The acquisition excludes smart payment products, such as Coin 2.0." https://investor.fitbit.com/press/press-releases/press-release-details/2016/Fitbit-Inc-Acquires-Wearable-Payments-Assets-From-Financial-Technology-Company-Coin/default.aspx https://investor.fitbit.com/press/press-releases/press-relea...
- valarauca1 10y agoSounds like an acquihire + hardware tech. Coin has a decent NFC lower power transmitter and I'd guess some smart embedded developers. I'm also guess getting NFC transmitter though FCA inspection/compliance isn't cheap nor easy.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- coldskull 10y agoso only other player left here is swypcard
- ndaiger 10y agoThe promise of Coin is that you don't have to carry anything else. It is a fantastic idea. However, unless it worked at least 95% of the time, it's useless, because you have to carry at least one backup card. My experience with the Coin 2.0 is that it worked about 20% of the time and was very, very frustrating in every respect. It went in a drawer after a week.
- deedubaya 10y agoSame here. My Coin only ever worked once before I gave up.
- gkoberger 10y agoIf my credit card failed one out of every 20 transactions (95%), I still wouldn't use it. At a restaurant, you'd be stuck having consumed the food but with no way to pay for it.
- lettergram 10y agoI work at a bank, we have the minimum of 5 9's rule for every app and transactional entity. Basically, it needs to be up 99.999% of the time. Currently, we have a 99.9998% uptime for the main transactional cluster/mainframe/computer/etc. and that still means 20 minutes of down time in the last 20 years. That doesn't sound like a lot, but that's like ~$1 million of transactions lost for every minute it is down.
- pbreit 10y agoThat's kinda baloney. Reality is that a minute or 2 of downtime will result in much less than a total loss because people just wait and retry.
- lettergram 10y agoYou can't wait at a register... people will try swapping the card 2 times (maybe 3).
- 10y ago
- madelinecameron 10y agoI never really understood Coin. It is basically all the negatives of having one electronic payment method (If you lose it, you have no money unless you have cash on hand or can somehow get money out of the bank... if your bank even has a physical branch nearby) with all the negatives of having multiple credit cards (It is a lot more attractive to thieves / skimmers) With a whole bunch of new negatives like, if you lose your Coin, that means someone has access to all your cards and even if you don't lose it, you are essentially handing people your entire wallet when you use it. Skimmers probably love this thing. Oh, and not to mention: You can't use it online. So all those pesky credit cards; yeah, make sure to keep those around because you still need them. It just didn't make any sense to me. Pay $100 for no real upsides and a lot of really terrifying downsides.
- smellf 10y agoIt's moot because the product is now dead, but if I understood Coin correctly, all of your criticisms are invalid. > If you lose it, you have no money unless you have cash on hand or can somehow get money out of the bank You keep the actual cards at home. So if you lose your Coin, you just go back to your separate cards. > It is a lot more attractive to thieves / skimmers The Coin was secured through your phone's passcode/biometrics/pattern, so yeah if they broke that you'd be boned. The same as with GWallet/iPay. A sophisticated mugger could do it I guess. > if you lose your Coin, that means someone has access to all your cards Not without the phone. > you are essentially handing people your entire wallet No, before you hand it to a waiter or whatever you lock it into the card you want to use.
- koolba 10y ago>> It is a lot more attractive to thieves / skimmers >>The Coin was secured through your phone's passcode/biometrics/pattern, so yeah if they broke that you'd be boned. The same as with GWallet/iPay. A sophisticated mugger could do it I guess. Mugger A: "Give me the wallet!" (Hands over wallet) Mugger A: "Now unlock your phone and give it to me!" (Unlocks phone and hands it over) Mugger B: "Better chop off his thumb too ... might need it to unlock some apps!" (Gulps)
- antirez 10y agoI don't see much a fit for payment features in fitbit products. They should probability focus on iterating the hardware and experience regarding the "sport watch" idea. Their strength is also the simplicity of the product. EDIT: interesting examples provided in the replies, thanks. To buy things while running without having anything with you is a good thing, also if this technology allows to, like, register in a gym or alike and enter without any other token.
- gkoberger 10y agoWhat about if you're out on a run and don't want to carry anything else?
- kstrauser 10y agoI think it's a feature check-off to compete with Apple Watch: "Hey, you can buy your post-workout latte with our band, too!"
- brlewis 10y agoDisclaimer: I work at Fitbit but speak only for myself. About simplicity, yes the Alta is selling well as a simple product, but the Blaze is also selling well as a less-simple product.
- VLM 10y agoI'm not saying I want this, but it would be possible: Imagine your access card for the gym doesn't provide free access to everything, but every time you enter the sauna it bills you one dollar, or physically walking into a class bills you the individual class tuition. Unlocking the racquetball court door costs three dollars. Then after your workout you walk up to the vending machine to get your bottled tapwater or fancy water or whatever and pay with your gym access card. Inevitably there are not enough treadmills for peak times, so something is set up today like signup sheets and time use limits, but crazy as it sounds you could pay per use or bid to reserve, high bid on treadmill #7 from 6:00 to 6:30 tonight is two dollars, wave your magic token thingy here to give you the new high bid at three dollars. Gamify things such that every 100 miles on the treadmill means a free run next time. Insert anecdote of people hooking up their fitbit to a cordless drill to get 100 miles per day so as to get free treadmill time.
- untilHellbanned 10y agojump the shark startup edition
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- gherkin0 10y agoWell, that's just great. I was an original backer and got a Coin 1.0. They kept saying they'd ship me a Coin 2.0 due to the problems with the 1.0, but I never got it. Now it appears all mention of that has been scrubbed from their website. It is kind of humorous that their website now as a big "Sold Out" banner right at the top next to this announcement.
- pkill17 10y agoI'm with you. Not only was I an original backer, but I was also an early backer. I got my Coin 1.0 months after they promised, and it almost never worked anywhere. Coin 2.0 comes out with EVT but no NFC payment, promises to work at more locations, still hardly works. I'm pretty pissed with Coin, and will definitely not buy into any future FitBit products as a result.
- notJim 10y agoIf it makes you feel any better, I got a coin 2.0, and it worked so infrequently I stopped using it after like a couple weeks. Plus the annoyed looks from people at shops being like WTF is this thing (which were validated when it didn't work with their system) got old fast.
- jes5199 10y agoI also got a Coin 1.0, but by the time it arrived I couldn't remember why I wanted it. I literally never tried it.
- gherkin0 10y agoI just use mine for loyalty cards and magstripe gift cards (so they don't collect dust because I don't want a fat wallet). Might be worth a try if you haven't tried it for anything.
- funwithjustin 10y ago"Acquires."
- messick 10y agoI was an early backer of Coin, but by the time it actually shipped to me, years late, Apple Pay had been out for months. My Coin box went unopened into the recycling bin. And this was before I read reviews saying it only worked 1 in 5 times.
- gherkin0 10y agoHonestly, I just used mine for gift/loyalty cards. Never loaded a real credit card to it.
- alexeckermann 10y agoI remember in September 2014 when Apple announced Apple Pay watching the keynote live on TV. I was visiting San Francisco at the time, staying in SoMa, and out the window adjacent I had a clear view of the Coin office. To be a fly on the wall during that time…
- Johnie 10y agoThis smells more like an aquihire. FitBit doesn't need any of Coin's IP to provide payment functionality in their wearables.