Fitbit CEO: Apple Watch is ‘the wrong way to approach’ wearables

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Apple Watch
The Apple Watch is no Fitbit. Apparently.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The Apple Watch may have out-earned Rolex to the tune of $1.5 billion last year, but according to Fitbit CEO’s James Park, Apple’s pursuing the wrong direction with its wearable devices.

“We look at it from a consumer point of view,” Park said, noting that the Apple Watch, “is a computing platform [instead, and] that’s really the wrong way to approach this category from the very beginning.”

Admittedly the comments aren’t a whole lot more transparent than other similar attacks on Apple (is Apple not consumer-focused?), but the point seems to be that Fitbit tries to make its wearables simple, one-purpose devices. The Apple Watch, meanwhile, tries to be all things to all people — providing notifications, fitness stats, and phone calls — but without excelling in any of them.

In another swipe at the Apple Watch, Park says that, “I think one of the general knocks against smartwatches is that people still don’t know what they’re good for, so they’ve crammed everything in.”

You can’t totally discount Fitbit, of course. Since going public last year, the company has increased revenue more than 90 percent with the rise in popularity of fitness devices. In 2015, Fitbit sold 21.3 million devices — which translates to almost double the 10.9 million it sold the year before.

However, it’s also fair to say that — as popular as Fitbit devices may be — they’re still a tiny fraction of the business that the Apple Watch is. If Apple was to create a wearable selling comparable numbers at a comparable price point to Fitbit, it would be considered a categorical failure. Right now, Fitbit has created a good, niche business — but likening it directly to the Apple Watch is not a good or straightforward comparison.

What do you think? Do James Park’s comments contain any words of wisdom that Apple could learn from — or is this (no pun intended) comparing apples with oranges? Leave your comments below.

Source: NY Times

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