HealthKit-incompatible Fitbit accessories disappear from Apple's stores
Proving an earlier rumor accurate, Apple on Friday removed Fitbit hardware accessories from its online store, narrowing the fitness-related devices offered by the company ahead of the Apple Watch launch.
It's unknown exactly what happened between Fitbit and Apple to lead to its products being removed from Apple Stores. But the move comes as Fitbit has recently unveiled a new trio of fitness trackers, capable of tracking steps and activity, as well as heart rate sensing for some models.
But with Friday's removal, it appears the new Fitbit Charge, Charge HR and Surge will not be found in Apple Stores. The news that Apple planned to remove Fitbit devices from its stores first surfaced last month.
One possible reason for the decision could be the fact that Fitbit said on its official community forums that it does not have plans to integrate with Apple's HealthKit. The new Health app in iOS 8 is connected to HealthKit, a series of developer tools for collecting fitness and health related data.
Apple Stores previously carried the Fitbit One and Flex.
Fitbit has said it has been "evaluating integration with HealthKit" since it was announced, but noted that Apple's solution only works on the iOS platform. The company did suggest it could change course if there is enough demand among users.
However, one reason for Fitbit to not integrate with HealthKit is the fact that data exporting is a "premium" feature in the company's ecosystem. The ability to freely export Fitbit data, and integrate it with other services, requires a membership priced at $49.99, while Apple's HealthKit could accomplish that same task for free.
Of course, the forthcoming Apple Watch will also accomplish many of the same functions as the Fitbit product family, including step counting and heart rate tracking. The company's wearable smart watch will start at $349 when it launches in early 2015.
Apple's retail stores continue to carry fitness tracking devices from other companies, including the Jawbone Up, Nike Fuelband, Wahoo Tickr Heart Rate Monitor, Withings Pulse O2 Activity Tracker, and many more.
It's unknown exactly what happened between Fitbit and Apple to lead to its products being removed from Apple Stores. But the move comes as Fitbit has recently unveiled a new trio of fitness trackers, capable of tracking steps and activity, as well as heart rate sensing for some models.
But with Friday's removal, it appears the new Fitbit Charge, Charge HR and Surge will not be found in Apple Stores. The news that Apple planned to remove Fitbit devices from its stores first surfaced last month.
One possible reason for the decision could be the fact that Fitbit said on its official community forums that it does not have plans to integrate with Apple's HealthKit. The new Health app in iOS 8 is connected to HealthKit, a series of developer tools for collecting fitness and health related data.
Apple Stores previously carried the Fitbit One and Flex.
Fitbit has said it has been "evaluating integration with HealthKit" since it was announced, but noted that Apple's solution only works on the iOS platform. The company did suggest it could change course if there is enough demand among users.
However, one reason for Fitbit to not integrate with HealthKit is the fact that data exporting is a "premium" feature in the company's ecosystem. The ability to freely export Fitbit data, and integrate it with other services, requires a membership priced at $49.99, while Apple's HealthKit could accomplish that same task for free.
Of course, the forthcoming Apple Watch will also accomplish many of the same functions as the Fitbit product family, including step counting and heart rate tracking. The company's wearable smart watch will start at $349 when it launches in early 2015.
Apple's retail stores continue to carry fitness tracking devices from other companies, including the Jawbone Up, Nike Fuelband, Wahoo Tickr Heart Rate Monitor, Withings Pulse O2 Activity Tracker, and many more.
Comments
I can't see how it's a bad business decision. Why sell HealthKit incompatible products?
I can't see how it's a bad business decision. Why sell HealthKit incompatible products?
I think he means on Fitbit's part.
Fit...who?
I can't see how it's a bad business decision. Why sell HealthKit incompatible products?
Quote:
I think he means on Fitbit's part.
Yes on fitbit's part for sure, they can keep their own platform and offer their idea of what their users want according to their subscription plan and business model, developing their own software and services compatible with other manufacturers besides apple, or separate via their apps, and also support healthkit, because really, anyone with an iOS device will expect to have that and apple gives them a platform and a physical store to sell their products. They opted out of all that for what? Because they can't be arsed to learn swift of something? They 've shot themselves in the feet.
As an aside, I really can't get my head around the fact that MS's products have to always strive to get some bad design award or something. Literally anyone you choose from the fitness accessories competition has come up with smarter looking accessory than the band. It's like they are doing it on purpose. Who the hell is their lead designer and why does he still have his job?
* Do we usually refer to the API this way over the app it feed the date too? This seems unique, but maybe writing "support Health" is too obscure.
It's been a while since I've seen a company who owned their market as Fibit currently does, commit corporate suicide as they are now.
Understandable.
The selling point for me is the battery life - 7 days. Sure you can do all of this on the iPhone but at a drastic cost to battery life. The HR will track heart rate 24/7, the Surge(?) will track GPS for 24/5. We won't even be getting 24 hours out of the Apple Watch.
I'm looking forward to owning all three
Quick! Hit Apple with an anti-trust or restraint of trade suit!!!
bit.