Fitbit Launches “Blaze” & Shares Drop 18%

Fitbit might be the no. 1 wearable tracker company that has also enjoyed a successful holiday season, but with the Apple Watch targeting the fitness market too, it was clear something had to be done for them to stay ahead of the game. Las Vegas seemed the perfect place to take on Apple so there weren't too many surprises when Fitbit announced their own watch today called ‘The Blaze’ which will retail for $199.

Fitbit’s CEO James Park proudly declared the watch was “more motivating, smarter and more stylish than ever before.” The Blaze will concentrate solely on fitness and has little interest in trying to be something else and overwhelming its users with a wealth of options that they won’t use.

Anyone who has more interest in tracking their cardiovascular fitness rather than fueling their narcissistic desires by sharing photos on social media along with a mountain of other apps are sure to be tempted by the announcement. You can expect a five-day battery, a fitness coach and even check your resting heart rate while asleep, along with all the usual suspects such as recording daily steps, sleep, calories burned, and 15 different types of exercise.

Refreshingly Fitbit is sticking to their niche by calling the new device a smart fitness watch and using gamification with family leaderboards and badges to motivate users thus introducing a little healthy competitive spirit into the fitness regimen.

By providing a clear focus on fitness, it’s clear to see that the biggest selling point is giving users the ability to take action without getting distracted 24 hours a day. The short battery life of the Apple Watch makes sleep tracking and resting heart rate measurement completely impractical and something that will need to be addressed in the second generation version. This is just one of many clear advantages Fitbit Blaze has over the Apple Watch for those looking for an alternative.

On a downside, the Blaze doesn’t have built-in GPS and will require your smartphone to pull GPS data when running or cycling in the great outdoors. It is interesting to note however that Wall Street apparently didn't like what they saw here in Vegas as FitBit’s shares tumbled by 18% after the announcement. I think Wall Street is failing to realize that the Fitbit Blaze might not look as sexy as the Apple Watch but it does have a superior five-day battery life and should thus not be underestimated and definitely not be overlooked.

The company shipped over 30 million fitness trackers in 2015, and the Fitbit mobile app was sitting at the top of the download charts on the morning of December 25, so any dramatic drop in share prices should only be treated as a impulsive knee jerk reaction.

Fitbit Blaze won't compete with the Apple Watch or win any awards for style, and its lack of waterproof or GPS features is a slight concern. However, by remaining in their niche, it has enabled Fitbit to concentrate on the essential features that people want from fitness based wearable tech.

People are getting caught up in the whole what device is the best debate and missing the point that wearable tech has been adopted by mainstream consumers and more people than ever are now taking their health more seriously by monitoring their food intake, exercise, resting heart rate and even their sleep quality.

There is a wide range of devices that all offer something different depending on your unique requirements and this combined with our new outlook on wearable tech is possibly the biggest story to come out of CES so far.

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