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Garmin and Apple have the fitness market covered. Fitbit never had the hardcore fitness market Garmin executed into and Apple has always had a product that wor

Garmin and Apple have the fitness market covered. Fitbit never had the hardcore fitness market Garmin executed into and Apple has always had a product that works well across the wearable and fitness. Between these two companies I can't imagine there's much of a niche Fitbit does better. On the extreme hardcore triathlon user even Garmin has taken a lot of market from Suunto and the like. I've owned a handful of Garmin devices over the years and have never considered Fitbit. Now that Google owns them my initial reaction is that Fitbit is going to be in a very confusing state for the next year and their products will fall further behind. Unless Google actually scraps what WearOS is today and goes back to the drawing board they've lost this war even to Garmin.

neuromancer2701 7y ago
Fibit should fit perfectly into the 99$ market for a zillion people that just want to track steps and sleep cycles.
- pmlnr 7y ago
  You have 10$ chinese brand-able devices for that: https://rbaron.net/blog/2018/05/27/Hacking-a-cheap-fitness-tracker-bracelet.html https://rbaron.net/blog/2018/05/27/Hacking-a-cheap-fitness-t...
  - Invictus0 7y ago
    Or just get a $1 pedometer and a sleep app.
    - xingjiping 7y ago
      Or a zero dollar pedophile. Problem solved. Money isn't everything.
- scarface74 7y ago
  And why wouldn’t they just buy a $199 Apple Watch Series 3? How many people are both into fitness and do price conscience that they won’t spend an extra $100. Well, they could cater to the Android market.
  - tomComb 7y ago
    If you have an Android, or even want the option of an Android in the future. I wish Apple would want some of their stuff cross-platform - I don't like the all or nothing nature of the Apple ecosystem (I consider 'exclusives' to be anti-consumer in general).
    - scarface74 7y ago
      Well, there is iTunes for Windows, Apple Music for Android and the Apple TV app for various TVs and streaming sticks.
- save_ferris 7y ago
  They’re starting to put some of their data behind a monthly subscription, especially around sleep. A coworker recommended I look into buying one, but as soon as I saw that I needed to pay $x per month to see data they were already capturing, I immediately passed.
  - rhcom2 7y ago
    I came across this with my fitbit this week. I immediately had such a clear realization I was done with this company.
- windexh8er 7y ago
  $99? A brand new Garmin Vivofit 4 which has an always on display and a year of battery life is $79.99 USD. It's the low margin segment of the space and that's where Fitbit put all their eggs. Fitbit didn't really invest in anything behind low-end fitness tracking well. They tried, but people buy other products now. They want heart rate, they want GPS, they want PulseOx and ECG features and will pay for them. Regardless of whether or not they need them.
  - qzx_pierri 7y ago
    Doesn’t support heart rate tracking or phone notifications. Nice try though.
    - windexh8er 7y ago
      I didn't say Vivofit 4 had those things. I said people want them.
- kccqzy 7y ago
  Your phone can already track steps and sleep. You don't need an extra device.
kungito 7y ago
Google needs a proper smartphone-like smartwatch and they needed a cheap buy to speed up the dev process. They don't need the Garmin market because they want a smartwatch on every person and not on every athletic person. I was always hoping smart glasses come after smart phones but I guess these are even smaller and need even more time than watches to become efficient enough to cover for the small battery.
- chrisfinazzo 7y ago
  If this is really the driver behind Google buying them, what do you think are the odds that most - if not all - of the non-watch FitBit products are eventually discontinued? That's how they built up a following, with devices that were inexpensive, and did a few things well, but given the current environment, Google doesn't seem like they are interested in that market.
  - eitally 7y ago
    I think there's an enormous market for <=~$100 wearables that are primarily positioned as health trackers. Among other things, many wellness programs partner with Fitbit as a device provider. The first mover advantage for Fitbit also carries over into their existing, very expansive, partner ecosystem. This "health tracker" market is far larger market than the one for fully functional smart watches with 1-2 day batteries.
    - m-p-3 7y ago
      I'm currently using a Mi Band 3 with Gadgetbridge on Android just because I know it doesn't phone home, last several days and gather enough data for what I'm doing. Oh and seeing notifications without pulling my phone out of my pocket is a big reason why I wear one.
halfmatthalfcat 7y ago
I have seen a lot more Fitbits then Garmins or Apple Watches. I would argue that the hardcore market, while the most loyal, isn't the largest revenue generator. It's everyone who wants something "smart" without breaking the bank (or tied to iOS).
- Invictus0 7y ago
  Fitbits are a quarter of the price; same reason you see way more Androids than iPhones.
  - qzx_pierri 7y ago
    I wouldn’t have bought an Apple Watch even if I wanted to spend the extra money. Battery life, minimal build, and sleep tracking are the selling points for many people.
ac1spkrbox 7y ago
I'm confused by this comment. To me, Garmin is the only company here that does a good job with the "hardcore fitness" market, but why does that matter in the first place? The better market to compete in is the "fitness amateur" market, which I see as being many times the former in size. Fitbit competes well here, and Google has no offering to speak of. Seems like a successful diversification move for Alphabet's portfolio. I especially like what Google's software can do to improve FitBit's offering by leveraging AI.
- AgloeDreams 7y ago
  This and the casual smartwatch market where FitBit's versa already sells great (even though it's not great at all). Google's offerings here are sparse, littered with confusing options and half-assed design. A cohesive pixel/Fitbit product can help create a proper Anti-Apple Watch product.
- windexh8er 7y ago
  I think the point you're missing is everyone levels up. Even amateur fitness users want a better fitness wearable. Which is why Garmin and Apple have the lion's share of the market. Fitbit is still seen as a step tracker level device, even if they do more. Garmin wearables are laser focused to the workout market and most buyers seem to lust over the idea of needing a more capable fitness device. Garmin and Apple both cover "fitness amateur" in spades but do an upsell far better. With regard to AI, I'm not trying to be flippant but, those users don't care. No amateur fitness users would even understand how that would apply and likely be less to care than selling predictive analysis to those working out who legitimately track vitals and are trying to shave seconds.
  - qzx_pierri 7y ago
    Apple Watch battery lasts a day at most. My Fitbit can go without a charge for 6 days. Fitbit offers sleep tracking.. Apple Watch doesn’t natively, and even if it did, you still have to charge it at night. Fitbits are more minimalistic. They’re so nice. I don’t want a Garmin wearable. A lot of people who use Fitbits don’t use them for the fitness aspect. We use them to avoid the sedentary lifestyle by viewing our steps, and occasionally going on a run. I hope Google doesn’t ruin Fitbit. But judging by their past moves, my Charge 3 will be useless in a matter of 2-3 years
fasicle 7y ago
I recently purchased the Samsung Galaxy Active 2 and am loving it so far. Fitness tracking seems to be accurate too. Would be interesting to see the market share of Apple, Samsung and Garmin for smart watches.
- kalleboo 7y ago
  Forbes says Apple 35%, Samsung 11%, Imoo 9%, Fitbit 5.5%, Amazfit 3.7%, Huawei 2.8%, Fossil 2.5%, Garmin 1.5%, "Others" 27%.
taloft 7y ago
My Garmin 935 is waterproof, has an always on display, shows smartphone notifications, charges once a week, and has worked for over a year. If apple or Fitbit had this, I’d go back. Had multiple fit bits and they all broke in 6 months. Had an Apple Watch, but it needed to be charged every day, wasn’t waterproof, and display turned off. Apple has improved on 2 of those but it still needs every day charging. I would put garmin last software, but the other hardware features more than make up for it.
- m-p-3 7y ago
  Seriously, I know that these always-on displays don't look as nice as an LCD, but I value battery life more. If there were WearOS device that had this type of display to make them last longer than a day or two I'd consider it, mostly for Google Pay and the ability to use Spotify without my phone.
  - abawany 7y ago
    Plus it really sucks to wait for the lag on wrist-raise (or the false alarms) to be able to tell the time. With the Garmin, glance at it to get the time; no wrist movement foppery. Edit: BTW, some of the WearOS watches now have effectively 2 displays: a always-on lcd with great battery life for the basics and the fancy backlit lcd underneath for everything else: one example is Mobvoi, which has funding from Google and thus hopefully isn't fly-by-night. Edit2: https://wearos.google.com/#find-your-watch https://wearos.google.com/#find-your-watch .
- kettro 7y ago
  Ex Garmin employee: The amount of 1st party software in those watches is astounding. And it almost all gets processed on-watch. The 3rd party app support is laughably poor, but the APIs are there. ConnectIQ apps are written in their own language (MonkeyC, which is kinda hard to use), which hinders adoption, and are generally slow and feature-poor. But the good thing for Garmin is that the 1st party software more than makes up for the lack of 3rd party support. The music-enabled watches (eg FR645) have Spotify support, GPS, and Bluetooth music, last for an eon, and are hardy as all hell.
notus 7y ago
Which one gives you the most achievements? I'm a simple man who just wants achievements. Fitbit has some weak ass achievements.
nbanks 7y ago
I'd be willing to try a fitbit if they had a daylight-readable smart watch. I haven't gotten around to getting a Garmin, but last I checked they were the only watch since pebble with a daylight-readable screen--and they support heart-rate. Google has a chance to do better with App integration.
sandstrom 7y ago
Withings has some neat watches (and lots of other health-related products). https://www.withings.com/se/en/watches https://www.withings.com/se/en/watches I'm currently using Fitbit, but has considered switching. This will probably catalyze it.
trophycase 7y ago
I disagree. The wearables market is still wide open IMO and there is still plenty of room to make a truly compelling product.
balladeer 7y ago
I use Strava (which I’d like to ditch) on an iPhone (I do not a GPS watch or fitness tracker). Are there open source, privacy conscious apps that can be used instead of Starva, RunKeeper et al to log my fitness activities?
- thirdsun 7y ago
  Honestly, I think an Apple Watch (maybe the very affordable Series 3?) would be your best and most comfortable option. You can have your activites tracked by Apple's own first-party Activity app, which is likely the most privacy-conscious option. I use an Apple Watch for cycling and several other activites. It isn't a necessity at all and one could debate the purchase for ages, but once you start using it you probably wouldn't want to miss all those small and frequent conveniences it provides in addition to the rock solid activity tracking.

neuromancer2701 7y ago

Fibit should fit perfectly into the 99$ market for a zillion people that just want to track steps and sleep cycles.

pmlnr 7y ago
You have 10$ chinese brand-able devices for that: https://rbaron.net/blog/2018/05/27/Hacking-a-cheap-fitness-tracker-bracelet.html https://rbaron.net/blog/2018/05/27/Hacking-a-cheap-fitness-t...
- Invictus0 7y ago
  Or just get a $1 pedometer and a sleep app.
  - xingjiping 7y ago
    Or a zero dollar pedophile. Problem solved. Money isn't everything.
scarface74 7y ago
And why wouldn’t they just buy a $199 Apple Watch Series 3? How many people are both into fitness and do price conscience that they won’t spend an extra $100. Well, they could cater to the Android market.
- tomComb 7y ago
  If you have an Android, or even want the option of an Android in the future. I wish Apple would want some of their stuff cross-platform - I don't like the all or nothing nature of the Apple ecosystem (I consider 'exclusives' to be anti-consumer in general).
  - scarface74 7y ago
    Well, there is iTunes for Windows, Apple Music for Android and the Apple TV app for various TVs and streaming sticks.
save_ferris 7y ago
They’re starting to put some of their data behind a monthly subscription, especially around sleep. A coworker recommended I look into buying one, but as soon as I saw that I needed to pay $x per month to see data they were already capturing, I immediately passed.
- rhcom2 7y ago
  I came across this with my fitbit this week. I immediately had such a clear realization I was done with this company.
windexh8er 7y ago
$99? A brand new Garmin Vivofit 4 which has an always on display and a year of battery life is $79.99 USD. It's the low margin segment of the space and that's where Fitbit put all their eggs. Fitbit didn't really invest in anything behind low-end fitness tracking well. They tried, but people buy other products now. They want heart rate, they want GPS, they want PulseOx and ECG features and will pay for them. Regardless of whether or not they need them.
- qzx_pierri 7y ago
  Doesn’t support heart rate tracking or phone notifications. Nice try though.
  - windexh8er 7y ago
    I didn't say Vivofit 4 had those things. I said people want them.
kccqzy 7y ago
Your phone can already track steps and sleep. You don't need an extra device.

kungito 7y ago

Google needs a proper smartphone-like smartwatch and they needed a cheap buy to speed up the dev process. They don't need the Garmin market because they want a smartwatch on every person and not on every athletic person. I was always hoping smart glasses come after smart phones but I guess these are even smaller and need even more time than watches to become efficient enough to cover for the small battery.

chrisfinazzo 7y ago
If this is really the driver behind Google buying them, what do you think are the odds that most - if not all - of the non-watch FitBit products are eventually discontinued? That's how they built up a following, with devices that were inexpensive, and did a few things well, but given the current environment, Google doesn't seem like they are interested in that market.
- eitally 7y ago
  I think there's an enormous market for <=~$100 wearables that are primarily positioned as health trackers. Among other things, many wellness programs partner with Fitbit as a device provider. The first mover advantage for Fitbit also carries over into their existing, very expansive, partner ecosystem. This "health tracker" market is far larger market than the one for fully functional smart watches with 1-2 day batteries.
  - m-p-3 7y ago
    I'm currently using a Mi Band 3 with Gadgetbridge on Android just because I know it doesn't phone home, last several days and gather enough data for what I'm doing. Oh and seeing notifications without pulling my phone out of my pocket is a big reason why I wear one.

halfmatthalfcat 7y ago

I have seen a lot more Fitbits then Garmins or Apple Watches. I would argue that the hardcore market, while the most loyal, isn't the largest revenue generator. It's everyone who wants something "smart" without breaking the bank (or tied to iOS).

Invictus0 7y ago
Fitbits are a quarter of the price; same reason you see way more Androids than iPhones.
- qzx_pierri 7y ago
  I wouldn’t have bought an Apple Watch even if I wanted to spend the extra money. Battery life, minimal build, and sleep tracking are the selling points for many people.

ac1spkrbox 7y ago

I'm confused by this comment. To me, Garmin is the only company here that does a good job with the "hardcore fitness" market, but why does that matter in the first place? The better market to compete in is the "fitness amateur" market, which I see as being many times the former in size. Fitbit competes well here, and Google has no offering to speak of. Seems like a successful diversification move for Alphabet's portfolio. I especially like what Google's software can do to improve FitBit's offering by leveraging AI.

AgloeDreams 7y ago
This and the casual smartwatch market where FitBit's versa already sells great (even though it's not great at all). Google's offerings here are sparse, littered with confusing options and half-assed design. A cohesive pixel/Fitbit product can help create a proper Anti-Apple Watch product.
windexh8er 7y ago
I think the point you're missing is everyone levels up. Even amateur fitness users want a better fitness wearable. Which is why Garmin and Apple have the lion's share of the market. Fitbit is still seen as a step tracker level device, even if they do more. Garmin wearables are laser focused to the workout market and most buyers seem to lust over the idea of needing a more capable fitness device. Garmin and Apple both cover "fitness amateur" in spades but do an upsell far better. With regard to AI, I'm not trying to be flippant but, those users don't care. No amateur fitness users would even understand how that would apply and likely be less to care than selling predictive analysis to those working out who legitimately track vitals and are trying to shave seconds.
- qzx_pierri 7y ago
  Apple Watch battery lasts a day at most. My Fitbit can go without a charge for 6 days. Fitbit offers sleep tracking.. Apple Watch doesn’t natively, and even if it did, you still have to charge it at night. Fitbits are more minimalistic. They’re so nice. I don’t want a Garmin wearable. A lot of people who use Fitbits don’t use them for the fitness aspect. We use them to avoid the sedentary lifestyle by viewing our steps, and occasionally going on a run. I hope Google doesn’t ruin Fitbit. But judging by their past moves, my Charge 3 will be useless in a matter of 2-3 years

fasicle 7y ago

I recently purchased the Samsung Galaxy Active 2 and am loving it so far. Fitness tracking seems to be accurate too. Would be interesting to see the market share of Apple, Samsung and Garmin for smart watches.

kalleboo 7y ago
Forbes says Apple 35%, Samsung 11%, Imoo 9%, Fitbit 5.5%, Amazfit 3.7%, Huawei 2.8%, Fossil 2.5%, Garmin 1.5%, "Others" 27%.

taloft 7y ago

My Garmin 935 is waterproof, has an always on display, shows smartphone notifications, charges once a week, and has worked for over a year. If apple or Fitbit had this, I’d go back. Had multiple fit bits and they all broke in 6 months. Had an Apple Watch, but it needed to be charged every day, wasn’t waterproof, and display turned off. Apple has improved on 2 of those but it still needs every day charging. I would put garmin last software, but the other hardware features more than make up for it.

m-p-3 7y ago
Seriously, I know that these always-on displays don't look as nice as an LCD, but I value battery life more. If there were WearOS device that had this type of display to make them last longer than a day or two I'd consider it, mostly for Google Pay and the ability to use Spotify without my phone.
- abawany 7y ago
  Plus it really sucks to wait for the lag on wrist-raise (or the false alarms) to be able to tell the time. With the Garmin, glance at it to get the time; no wrist movement foppery. Edit: BTW, some of the WearOS watches now have effectively 2 displays: a always-on lcd with great battery life for the basics and the fancy backlit lcd underneath for everything else: one example is Mobvoi, which has funding from Google and thus hopefully isn't fly-by-night. Edit2: https://wearos.google.com/#find-your-watch https://wearos.google.com/#find-your-watch .
kettro 7y ago
Ex Garmin employee: The amount of 1st party software in those watches is astounding. And it almost all gets processed on-watch. The 3rd party app support is laughably poor, but the APIs are there. ConnectIQ apps are written in their own language (MonkeyC, which is kinda hard to use), which hinders adoption, and are generally slow and feature-poor. But the good thing for Garmin is that the 1st party software more than makes up for the lack of 3rd party support. The music-enabled watches (eg FR645) have Spotify support, GPS, and Bluetooth music, last for an eon, and are hardy as all hell.

notus 7y ago

Which one gives you the most achievements? I'm a simple man who just wants achievements. Fitbit has some weak ass achievements.

nbanks 7y ago

I'd be willing to try a fitbit if they had a daylight-readable smart watch. I haven't gotten around to getting a Garmin, but last I checked they were the only watch since pebble with a daylight-readable screen--and they support heart-rate. Google has a chance to do better with App integration.

sandstrom 7y ago

Withings has some neat watches (and lots of other health-related products). https://www.withings.com/se/en/watches https://www.withings.com/se/en/watches I'm currently using Fitbit, but has considered switching. This will probably catalyze it.

trophycase 7y ago

I disagree. The wearables market is still wide open IMO and there is still plenty of room to make a truly compelling product.

balladeer 7y ago

I use Strava (which I’d like to ditch) on an iPhone (I do not a GPS watch or fitness tracker). Are there open source, privacy conscious apps that can be used instead of Starva, RunKeeper et al to log my fitness activities?

thirdsun 7y ago
Honestly, I think an Apple Watch (maybe the very affordable Series 3?) would be your best and most comfortable option. You can have your activites tracked by Apple's own first-party Activity app, which is likely the most privacy-conscious option. I use an Apple Watch for cycling and several other activites. It isn't a necessity at all and one could debate the purchase for ages, but once you start using it you probably wouldn't want to miss all those small and frequent conveniences it provides in addition to the rock solid activity tracking.