Neil Hughes
Apple Stores will reportedly stop selling Fitbit products, which are not compatible with the HealthKit tools in iOS 8, as a new model with heart rate sensing capabilities is expected to hit the market soon.
Citing unnamed sources, Re/code reported on Wednesday that Apple apparently plans to stop selling Fitbit devices at its stores "soon." No reason was given for the change, but Apple plans to get into the fitness tracking market itself early next year with the launch of the Apple Watch.
The report comes after Fitbit said on its official community forums last week that the company currently does not have any plans to integrate with HealthKit, Apple's developer tools for health and fitness related data. Fitbit said it has been "evaluating integration with HealthKit" since it was announced, but noted that Apple's solution only works on the iOS platform.
But the company also suggested it could change course if there is enough demand among users.
"Your voices are being heard," the company said. "We're actively reviewing your responses and providing feedback to our product development team."
Apple's retail stores also 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. Wednesday's report said it is "unclear" whether Apple will continue selling those other devices that could compete with its own watch.
Apple stores currently carry both the wrist-worn Fitbit Flex, and the smaller Fitbit One activity trackers, which sell for $99.95 each. But the company has a pair of new models expected to hit the market soon, the details of which were leaked this week by Gizmodo.
Marketing materials for the anticipated new hardware reveal the Fitbit Charge and Charge HR. The Charge appears to be a reworked version of the Fitbit Force, which was recalled earlier this year because of apparent skin irritation issues.
The Fitbit Charge HR includes heart rate monitoring, which would be a new feature for Fitbit devices and a function bringing it into more direct competition with the Apple Watch. The materials suggest the wrist-worn device will track a user's heart rate all day, and provide feedback for better calorie tracking and cardiovascular training.
Both the Charge and Charge HR are also shown to track steps, distance, calories burned, floors climbed and active minutes. They'll also offer basic wrist notifications, displaying statistics, time and caller ID from a connected device like an iPhone.
The Charge models are also shown to monitor sleep quality and include a silent vibrating alarm. They're also water and sweat resistant.
AppleInsider Staff
Malcolm Owen
Oliver Haslam
Andrew O'Hara
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
12 Comments
The FitBit and upcoming iWatch are different enough products, the two companies don't have to be at odds. Apple should keep selling FitBits if Apple Store customers want them and FitBit should add iOS8 integration.
I'm livid that Fitbit isn't integrating with HealthKit, personally. Part of the reason I bought a Fitbit Flex over the summer was in anticipation of HealthKit and the Health app, because it sounded like a no-brainer to me: a way for Fitbit to push its device as the perfect companion to the iPhone. Which equals more sales. Which equals big big moneys.
Good riddance. There are a lot of other device manufacturers who are on board with HealthKit, so why wouldn't Apple promote them over a company that doesn't want to play ball? If Fitbit wants its platform to directly compete with Apple, that's fine. It's their choice as a business. Apple doesn't have to sell their stuff.
I'm holding off on ditching my Flex for now, because I don't feel like buying a new device if I'm just going to get the ?Watch next year anyway. But I've been paying less and less attention to it ever since Fitbit announced their (lack of) plans.
The FitBit and upcoming iWatch are different enough products, the two companies don't have to be at odds. Apple should keep selling FitBits if Apple Store customers want them and FitBit should add iOS8 integration.
Apple likely isn't doing this because Fitbit will be competing in the same relative category as the ?Watch. A fitness tracker IS a lot different from what Apple will be producing. I am willing to bet that the largest reason for their decision is that Fitbit is trying to compete with HealthKit AS A PLATFORM.
If there are already plenty of device manufacturers that are perfectly content to integrate with the HealthKit API, why would Apple sell a competitor's products that don't do so? It doesn't make any sense. It'd be like Apple selling a bunch of accessories that meet their MFi standards, but also selling HIGHER PROFILE competing accessories that do not meet MFi standards. Fitbit is the activity tracking industry's star player at present time. If they don't want to play ball with Apple and do right by the customers, then Apple has no reason to provide them a level playing field in Apple's own stores.
Nope... Apple should only sell products that are completing the EcoSystem. Fitbit has decided to go against HealthKit and that is enough to drop them like a piece of coal. The decision by Fitbit is annoying as hell to existing customers. I am trying to get a refund without success.
On one hand, Apple has only so much space in its retail stores; on the other, will it be wise to squeeze out competitors from its retail stores? Perhaps they'll still sell fitbit on the Apple online store?