I wonder how Fitbit plays into this all. Can they even realistically compete against the behemoth that Apple is at this point?
Fitbit went broke, didn't it?
Apple Fitness+
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Re: Apple Fitness+
#22I wonder how Fitbit plays into this all. Can they even realistically compete against the behemoth that Apple is at this point?
Some people just want a heartrate and sleep monitor that lasts 5ish days.
For them, there's a Fitbit.
Re: Apple Fitness+
#23What I dream of is a health monitor watch that's built from open hardware and gives me complete control over and ownership of my data. I don't trust any profit-driven company, even Apple, with such private information. EDIT: thanks to obenn, who pointed me towards [1]. Still in development, but looks promising. [1] https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/
Apple's watch hardware advantage is a massive multi-billion dollar investment.
Eventually there will be inexpensive equivalents, but those will lag behind by 5+ years. The hobbyist/ Open/ Free market for smartphone and smaller devices is always going to lag way behind because there is no money to finance this kind of device.
Sadly, I think the era of free/ open(ish) hardware is coming to a close.
Re: Apple Fitness+
#24What I dream of is a health monitor watch that's built from open hardware and gives me complete control over and ownership of my data. I don't trust any profit-driven company, even Apple, with such private information. EDIT: thanks to obenn, who pointed me towards [1]. Still in development, but looks promising. [1] https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/
I think this is the case for most other fitness tracking purpose-built devices. I'm only not mentioning other brands because I'm not familiar with them, but from my personal experience with Garmin watches, all data is recorded according to the ANT FIT protocol and available as browsable files on the watch. You don't have to consent to uploading data to the cloud and broader analytics are opt-in rather than opt-out.
Re: Apple Fitness+
#25I wouldn't want to be Peleton, Mirror, or one of those similar companies. Is it worth the extra $1000+ up front and $30+ monthly for the Peleton and Mirror trainers to mention your name?
Peloton stock is up 5% at the moment. There probably won't be an impact on PTON until Apple starts selling stationary cycles.
They were already up on the day. They dropped 5% at the announcement and then quickly gained half of that back. Still I would expect a bigger longer term drop in their business with Apple now as a more direct competitor.
Re: Apple Fitness+
#26What I dream of is a health monitor watch that's built from open hardware and gives me complete control over and ownership of my data. I don't trust any profit-driven company, even Apple, with such private information. EDIT: thanks to obenn, who pointed me towards [1]. Still in development, but looks promising. [1] https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/
Have you tried building it yourself?
Re: Apple Fitness+
#27RIP local fitness instructors.
Already battered by the pandemic, a lot of them have been successfully transitioning to an online only business model. This will make it harder.
Re: Apple Fitness+
#28I wouldn't want to be Peleton, Mirror, or one of those similar companies. Is it worth the extra $1000+ up front and $30+ monthly for the Peleton and Mirror trainers to mention your name?
How hard could it be to synthesize that with deepfakes?
Technically, probably not too difficult.
Business-wise, it would be a disaster. As soon as it was discovered (or disclosed) that the trainer saying, “Good hustle, Janet!” is an AI robot, Janet is not going to react the same way.
Re: Apple Fitness+
#29On it's own this service isn't that compelling. As part of the new Apple One bundle - it's actually not that much of a reach as I already am subscribed to a few of the traditional Apple offerings - adding this wouldn't be much of a stretch at all.
Which will be the real problem for Peloton and the other dedicated fitness offerings out there. Bundles are powerful, even if they sometimes are on the wrong side of the sunk cost fallacy.
Re: Apple Fitness+
#30What I dream of is a health monitor watch that's built from open hardware and gives me complete control over and ownership of my data. I don't trust any profit-driven company, even Apple, with such private information. EDIT: thanks to obenn, who pointed me towards [1]. Still in development, but looks promising. [1] https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/
I agree with you.
But...
Wow, people really dislike this. Is it just HN culture to not want something like this?
I get it, I carry a phone and it tells the cloud all my secrets, blah blah. But fitness is health and I would just rather not send any of that to the cloud. Is that so hard to get?