For the greater part of a decade, Fitbit was the leading name in the game for fitness tracking and wearables. That is until Apple jumped into the wearable arena with the Apple Watch. Apple Watch's features and accuracy, while limited, were still enough to put significant pressure on Fitbit's market share. Frankly, as a company in any industry, you don't want Apple to decide to compete with you. They've got the cash, the ecosystem, and the diehard fans which makes it nearly impossible for a company to protect their turf from them. So, what's a Fitbit to do?
Well, over the past year Fitbit has been working to figure out how to position itself in the increasingly competitive wearable market and naturally as a company you have to go to the data for answers. Fitbit conducts survey's every year and they get a lot of practical feedback about the usability of their devices but one such topic that continued to come up among their largest user base, women, was period -tracking. Holy frijoles, this sounds like not that big of a deal, but my goal is to talk about what this means for them as a company and for us as ladies. I am SALIVATING over this idea.
If Fitbit can put together a solid period tracking app I, for one, would be willing to pay for it. I've used a ton of period apps, many inaccurate. One app, while accurate, spammed my phone with constant notifications that couldn't be turned off. The name of the app rhymes with 'shmo, *coughs* Glow. It's the Glow app. Bottomline, I don't love any of them. If Fitbit can provide women with period tracking data that we love that part of their business would be almost pure profit for them, and that's where the market is heading.It used to be that latest wears from my favorite athleisure brands was my favorite part about working out. But, maybe now it’s the tech.
The money isn't in the hardware any more, folks. Even Apple has reported that the growth rate of their devices has slowed and they're now leveraging services more like Apple Music, and Apple Care. The cash is in recurring revenue and services. Fitbit integrating their fitness analytics with other women's health analytics like menstrual cycles can add meaningful insights into weight fluctuation, late or missed periods, and fatigue which are all factors that can be dramatically affected by diet and exercise.
I have to say; I'm digging this change. I like rooting for the underdog and Fitbit is a really well-run company that is in a tough situation. At its height, their stock price as around $45 and it now fluctuates in the $5 range. Increased profitability and expanding their product line into services and data could change the tide.