More Jawbone fitness trackers return to online Apple Store with UP2

Posted:
in General Discussion edited June 2015
On Thursday one of Jawbone's more advanced fitness trackers, the UP2, appeared at the online Apple Store, following a brief and still unexplained removal of most of the company's product line.




In March Apple removed all Jawbone trackers from its stores except for a low-end clip-on model, the UP Move. The UP2 is a mid-tier wristband device, costing $100. Still missing is the higher-end UP3 wristband, which like the UP2 first shipped to the U.S. in April. Later this summer Jawbone will be launching the UP4, capable of making NFC-based retail payments using American Express.

The return of more Jawbone products was signalled earlier this month by a senior product manager, who said that Japanese Apple Stores would get the UP2 by early July, and that other regions -- including the U.S. -- would get it even sooner. The executive also said that the UP3 would follow, but without offering a specific timeline.

The gap could simply be connected to the company trying to clear out older models. Some have speculated though that Apple removed Jawbone's products because they posed a threat to the Apple Watch, which has some basic fitness tracking functions and shipped April 24.

A number of other trackers have also disappeared from Apple's stores in recent months, most notably Fitbit products, which went missing from the online store last November. That disappearance is believed to be linked to Fitbit's decision not to support Apple's HealthKit platform, unlike Jawbone. Some Fitbit devices, such as the Surge, do provide watch functions.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    Freedom and liberty have been restored to the Apple Store! Apple finally caved in! Everyone has equal rights to limited retail shelf space! /s
  • Reply 2 of 3
    shenshen Posts: 434member
    Even at %u2153 the price of an Apple Watch, for the functionality difference this is a huge ripoff. I have used this jawbone, two different fit its, and an Apple Watch sport, and the quality and information tracked differences more than justify the Apple Watch price. And that is assuming it was only a fitness tracker...
  • Reply 3 of 3
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,328member
    Apple is under no obligation to sell any other vendors products in the Apple Store. I'd be shocked to find any product in the Apple Store that has zero attributed value to Apple, even if it's just the cut they get on the sale of the product, like third party headphones, iPhone cases, portable disk drives, etc. With store space being a premium you can count on Apple kicking out competitive products to what they sell when push comes to shove. You also have to look at the traffic that Apple Stores consistently generate. I'll bet there's a long waiting list to get into the Apple Store. So if you run afoul of anything with Apple your days in the store are numbered, which is exactly the way it should be.

    No love for Jawbone UPs with me. The one I bought died in less than a year and I was SOL with their service department. I totally agree that the price-performance and price-feature profile for the Apple Watch is much better than all these flea collar looking products the competition is schlepping. If I was an Apple Store employee helping people test drive the Apple Watch I'd have the prospective buyer strap on the watch and then walk them over to the part of the store where the fitness bands are hanging and ask them how they'd feel about walking around with a flea collar looking thing versus what is strapped to their wrist. Cha Ching, another Apple Watch sale...
Sign In or Register to comment.