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Fitbit Files IPO

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Re: Fitbit Files IPO

#61

Post by mkopinsky »

click170 wrote: post #48
MBCook wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Second, is when at the end of the day your are close to your target, its easy to convince yourself to go for a little walk to reach the target. Having an external locus of control can make a huge difference for some people when it comes to exercising more or eating better. It helped for me. > ...but the device and app work great for what they do. That was NOT my experience with the app. I think it's pathetic they d…

To be fair, they make it nearly impossible to get your data out of their servers to do anything interesting with anyway. Which is another huge failing on their part IMO.

They have a resilient, stable API. We use it for a number of clinical trials evaluating incentives for walking, and it works fairly well. Better than most of their competitors.

Re: Fitbit Files IPO

#62

Post by BinaryIdiot »

achompas wrote: post #54
bradgessler wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really easy as an engineer to feel bearish about FitBit because of how shitty their acting from our viewpoint, but to people outside our community FitBit makes a statement "I care about my fitness and well-being", works on Android and iOS, has an app that's more actionable than Apple's Health app ("get off your butt and get 2000 more steps in" vs "you have 8000 steps today"), and has several price points below t…

I disagree. There's a 0% chance the Apple Watch's entry price increases above $349, which means Fitbit needs to offer an incredibly compelling product below that price. That's difficult, given that both Apple Watch and Android Wear integrate so tightly with their respective OSes. There's a market for fitness devices, sure, but the ceiling on it is now $349 (and likely dropping). Fitbit et al. won't capture high margi…

They already kind of do that. Do use some of the Fitbit features you have to subscribe to pro. Some of these features are actually available on Jawbone for free which doesn't makes sense to me. It actually makes me regret my Fitbit purchase.

Re: Fitbit Files IPO

#63

Post by avn2109 »

krschultz wrote: post #60
mikestew wrote: post #58

I dunno, this kind of reminds me of the Flip video camera. Great little device, inexpensive. I bought one. Shortly after, cell phones became just as capable of being fits-in-a-pocket video recorders. Maybe not HD, but good enough. (Though some would argue cell phones had nothing to do with the demise of Flip. [0]) I see a similar pattern with FitBit. It's a 3-axis accelerometer with some firmware and software. Someon…

FitBit has a brand. You can't build that in a weekend. In fact, you don't need to build one at all. AliBaba returns over 14k results for "fitness tracker", and I imagine many of them are exact FitBit clones. However, consumer product businesses are about way more than just the product itself. Marketing matters. Distribution matters. Apple bought Beats not because they couldn't create headphones, but because they want…

Honestly I thought Apple bought Beats because they wanted Dr. Dre for future marketing purposes. Is that not the case?

Re: Fitbit Files IPO

#64

Post by BinaryIdiot »

jkestner wrote: post #25
misteredison12 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just don't think a pedometer gets the job done. I think the winners in this space will be much broader, multifunction devices. Something like I expect to see out of Apple Watch 3.0.

An interesting comparison is Misfit. They sell pedometers but also offer a free app for Pebble and Apple Watch. How do they intend to make money? Selling Shine to people who are interested in the jewelry aspect? Getting people into their ecosystem and selling them the bed sensor or other future specialized sensors?

I've been really curious about the Misfit business model. It's neat that they offer their software on two watches now but it's free. You only pay for devices and last I looked they didn't have any services.

Does anyone have any insights there since I'm curious?

Re: Fitbit Files IPO

#65

Post by avn2109 »

cmdrfred wrote: post #57
icefox wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also have an Aria scale and the whole reason I bought it is the fact that I don't want to have to bother writing down the date+weight on a piece of paper in the morning (trust me I seem to fail at this basic task at 6am having tried for years). To my horror I discovered that they only save a few months (three?). Given the amount of data the device is reporting I was expecting them to effectively store all data fore…

Only 90 days of weights and times? How much memory does that thing have 15k?

"90 days of weights and times ought to be enough for anybody."

Re: Fitbit Files IPO

#67

Post by binarysolo »

cmdrfred wrote: post #57
icefox wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also have an Aria scale and the whole reason I bought it is the fact that I don't want to have to bother writing down the date+weight on a piece of paper in the morning (trust me I seem to fail at this basic task at 6am having tried for years). To my horror I discovered that they only save a few months (three?). Given the amount of data the device is reporting I was expecting them to effectively store all data fore…

Only 90 days of weights and times? How much memory does that thing have 15k?

That number seems off -- I just checked and I have data going all the way from 2012.

Re: Fitbit Files IPO

#68

Post by jkestner »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #64
jkestner wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An interesting comparison is Misfit. They sell pedometers but also offer a free app for Pebble and Apple Watch. How do they intend to make money? Selling Shine to people who are interested in the jewelry aspect? Getting people into their ecosystem and selling them the bed sensor or other future specialized sensors?

I've been really curious about the Misfit business model. It's neat that they offer their software on two watches now but it's free. You only pay for devices and last I looked they didn't have any services. Does anyone have any insights there since I'm curious?

Partial answer: http://www.wareable.com/fitness-trackers/health-insurer-pay-...

Re: Fitbit Files IPO

#69

Post by encoderer »

krschultz wrote: post #60
mikestew wrote: post #58

I dunno, this kind of reminds me of the Flip video camera. Great little device, inexpensive. I bought one. Shortly after, cell phones became just as capable of being fits-in-a-pocket video recorders. Maybe not HD, but good enough. (Though some would argue cell phones had nothing to do with the demise of Flip. [0]) I see a similar pattern with FitBit. It's a 3-axis accelerometer with some firmware and software. Someon…

FitBit has a brand. You can't build that in a weekend. In fact, you don't need to build one at all. AliBaba returns over 14k results for "fitness tracker", and I imagine many of them are exact FitBit clones. However, consumer product businesses are about way more than just the product itself. Marketing matters. Distribution matters. Apple bought Beats not because they couldn't create headphones, but because they want…

A separate fitness tracker is the PDA-and-flip-phone combo of 2015. Once there are popular and mainstream wearable computers, I have no need for a separate fitness tracker. And that will happen as surely as things will continue to get smaller.

Re: Fitbit Files IPO

#70

Post by BinaryIdiot »

jkestner wrote: post #68
BinaryIdiot wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been really curious about the Misfit business model. It's neat that they offer their software on two watches now but it's free. You only pay for devices and last I looked they didn't have any services. Does anyone have any insights there since I'm curious?

Partial answer: http://www.wareable.com/fitness-trackers/health-insurer-pay-...

Ohh that makes good sense. I wonder what the money looks like versus other models like what Jawbone and Fitbit use. Thanks for the insight.
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