Oura’s smart ring has led many to wonder if Apple would ever create its own competing ring product. Oura’s CEO apparently doesn’t think so, and his reasons include some clear bait for the tech giant.
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Apple continues to lead the market for wearable products, according to the latest IDC report. The company shipped 21.2 million units of these products in the first quarter of 2020, which represents 29.3% of the total share.
While Apple Watch Series 4 offers the most comprehensive health features yet and is the number one smartwatch, Apple still sells wearables from other companies in its retail stores and online. One of the latest products to become available from Apple is Spire’s Health Tags that stick to your clothes to seamlessly track heart rate, steps, stress, and sleep.
Apple Watch sales estimated around 1.5 million units during Q1 2016 made it the number one smartwatch, but the device continued to trail basic wearables from competitors Fitbit and Xiaomi. During the quarter both companies more than doubled Apple Watch sales, according to the latest data out today from industry watcher IDC.
IDC’s latest report is out today with new estimates based on worldwide wearable shipments, and in it is a prediction that Apple Watch will hold the market lead this year and through 2020 as competitors begin to close the gap.
While the report shows estimates based on overall wearable shipments, which IDC says will go from 72.2 million last year to 100 million in 2016 for watch and wristband products, it also shows a breakdown of estimates for leading smartwatch platforms by operating system…
IDC is out today with its latest data on the wearable market — both smartwatches and more basic activity trackers— and within we get a look at Apple Watch sales for the fourth quarter of 2015.
The latest IDC data on the wearables market suggests that Apple Watch sales are enjoying modest growth, up from an estimated 3.6M units in Q2 to 3.9M in Q3. This growth is mainly due to Apple taking the Watch into new markets, it says, though September’s introduction of modest discounts along with gold and rose gold Sport models is also likely to have helped.
However, while Apple has emerged as the undisputed market leader in smartwatches, Fitbit has retained the top slot in the overall wearables sector.
While there has been clear growth in the wearable market, there has been little sign of product cannibalization. Smart watches have drawn increased attention to the market from the likes of Apple, Motorola, Pebble, and Samsung, but this has not dampened interest in fitness trackers.
IDC reports that Apple holds an 18.6% market share in the wearables market as a whole, while Fitbit leads at 22.2% – and says that both fitness bands and smartwatches are enjoying sales growth.
There was less happy news for Samsung, however …
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Fitbit CEO James Park says that the company’s sales have been unaffected by the Apple Watch, as the company announced Q3 revenue up 168% year-on-year, reports the Guardian.
On a conference call with investors, Park said that the rollout of other smart watches, which often come with a step-tracker similar to Fitbit’s main function, did not have impact on the company’s growth. When asked about Apple’s new watch specifically, he said it had “no material impact”. He added that Apple and Fitbit cater to “two very different segments in the market” in terms of price point and use and that “there’s room for more than one dominant player.”
While there is no current overlap in pricing – Fitbit devices start from just $60 and top out at $250 – the statement may look a little optimistic in years to come. Apple is likely to add functionality to future Watches while maintaining its premium pricing, but it’s not impossible it could follow its iPhone strategy of keeping previous-generation devices on sale at a reduced price when new ones launch.
That could see the two companies competing at least at the $250 level – and in the meantime, there are already discounted Apple Watches out there, from Apple and others.
Via The Verge
Misfit, the company co-founded by John Scully, this evening has officially taken the wraps off its Shine 2 wearable. The device offers a fully designed look with a handful of new functionalities, as well. The original Misfit Shine was revealed over two years ago, so today’s refresh is definitely welcomed as a lot has changed in the wearable industry since 2013.
Samsung is actively looking in to bringing iOS support to its latest smartwatch, the Gear S2, according to a report from Digital Spy. The UK-based site spoke with one of the company’s spokespeople who confirmed that it was “positively looking into opening it up.”
BlackBerry is back in the news today as the company is making a move further into the enterprise mobility management space. BlackBerry is buying the Sunnyvale, California-based company Good Technology in an all-cash deal worth $425 million. For BlackBerry, the purchase is about investing into cross-platform mobile device management for enterprise customers, an increasing focus for the company since it’s reign as the top handset maker was stifled by iOS and Android.
Enhanced by Good, BlackBerry will expand its ability to offer a unified, secure mobility platform with applications for any mobile device on any operating system – supported with security that has been certified by governments around the world embedded in every component of the mobility infrastructure.
Included in Good’s portfolio of products is the Good Collaboration Suite for iOS and Android which includes enterprise-focused calendar, email, messaging, and document sharing apps for business customers.
In announcing the acquisition, BlackBerry notes that iOS makes up a majority of Good’s install base at 64% with Android and Windows Phone following. BlackBerry has also had its hand in more consumer-focused apps with BlackBerry Messenger for iOS plus a number of business-centric apps for the platform.
The two companies shared an executive Q&A to discuss the deal. Particularly interesting in that was Good CEO Christy Wyatt’s comments on wearables including the Apple Watch:
In addition to smartphones and tablets running iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry OS, Good will enable BlackBerry to add support for wearables. This is something we do today for both Apple Watch and Android Wear.
BlackBerry’s purchase of Good Technology comes as Apple itself grows its MobileFirst enterprise initiative with IBM and entering into a new agreement with Cisco to improve enterprise services for iOS users.
Tim Cook’s efforts to influence policy in Washington DC in ways that better serve Apple have been hard to miss during his tenure as CEO. Pushing the company’s strong stance on privacy has been met with great pushback from the justice department and Apple was unhappy with how the ebook pricing case against it went so it’s no surprise its lobbying efforts have climbed in recent years. Now Politico, a news site focused on politics, has dedicated a lengthy 4,000+ word profile on Tim Cook’s relationship with Washington DC over the last four years.
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Fitness device maker Misfit and swim-accessory expert Speedo are hitting the pool together this summer to create a special version of the fitness tracking Shine wearable made especially for swimmers. The Speedo Shine is enhanced for workouts in the pool thanks to “proprietary lap counting algorithms with industry-leading accuracy” that swimmers should appreciate. Data captured by Speedo Shine syncs up wirelessly with Misfit’s iPhone app over Bluetooth for evaluating workouts in the pool and hitting swim goals. And while the water resistant Apple Watch with non-leather bands plays nice with some water, Speedo Shine is made with swimmers in mind and waterproofed to 50 meters.
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A BI Intelligence report on the future of wearables is predicting that by 2020 the Apple Watch will account for 40% of all premium watch sales, defined as watches costing upwards of $350. The report suggests Apple will be shipping over 40M Watches a year by this date.
A supporting survey found that those currently considering a smartwatch purchase were most interested in notifications and health & fitness apps, with the Apple Watch unsurprisingly seeing substantially greater appeal than Android Wear models.
The report suggests that while the entire wearables market will continue to grow, full-featured smartwatches will start edging out cheaper fitness bands, with Fitbit-style devices seeing their market share fall from 53% last year through 48% this year and 42% by 2020.
The Apple Watch is expected to go on sale at Best Buy Canada today after its debut in U.S. stores a week ago.
Misfit, makers of the popular Flash and Shine wearables for fitness and sleep tracking, today launched a new iOS app that turns its Flash hardware into a remote control for a connected iPhone’s camera, music functions, and more.
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Following the launch of the Apple Watch in April, IDC’s latest estimates for wearables shows the market is set to grow approximately 173% this year as shipments increase from 26.4 million in 2014 to an estimated 72.1 million worldwide for 2015.
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Apple removed most Jawbone and Nike fitness bands from its retail stores back in March, during the run-up to the launch of the Apple Watch. It was assumed then that Apple was purging products that might be felt to compete with its own wearable.
But Jawbone Senior Product Manager Jason Donahue said that its UP2 fitness band will be available in Apple Stores shortly, reports Japanese site Macotakara. The statement was made during a product launch in Japan …
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Ahead of the Apple Watch making its way onto the wrists of consumers, Apple has published a new support page detailing the device’s heart rate monitor. As we know, the Apple Watch includes a heart rate reader to measure a person’s intensity during workouts.
With knowledge of this intensity data, the Watch is able to more accurately measure the amount of calories a person burns per day. Additionally, a user can check their heart rate at any time using a feature known as the Heart Rate Glance. But beyond these two user functions, this new support document details the technologies behind the hardware as well as some little known software features.
According to the document, the Apple Watch will silently measure your heart rate every 10 minutes. This data will be stored in the iOS 8 Health application for later viewing and integration with third-party health tracking applications and hardware.
Every year, top-ranked Apple speaker maker iHome comes to CES with an impressive array of new products — including something to show off Apple’s latest technology — and it isn’t disappointing at the 2015 CES. In an advance briefing before the show officially opened, iHome revealed its first Apple HomeKit product, SmartPlug ($40), as well as some daring new speaker and headphone designs…
…like the first speaker we’ve seen hidden inside a beautiful drinking flask. It’s called SoundFlask, and comes in coat pocket- ($50) and home bar-sized ($100) versions. Even the smaller version sounds really good given its size, and the flask cap twists to adjust the volume. All that’s missing is the ability to actually hold fluids. Read on for more.
In the months leading up to the launch of the Apple Watch next year, early opinions about the smartwatch have been quite mixed. While some believe that the Apple Watch will be as successful as iconic products released ahead of it, including the iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac, others are more skeptical about how much of an impact the device will truly have.
While the wearables market is forecasted to become over a $5 billion industry by 2018, it hasn’t reached that point just yet. But T-Mobile CEO John Legere certainly thinks it will sooner than later, predicting that the Apple Watch launch in 2015 will be the turning point in which the wearables market goes from niche to mainstream.
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When the new year rolls around, a lot of us have New Year’s resolutions to become a healthier person and plan to exercise more. Last year I set my New Year’s resolution to do just that. However, last year was the first year I really used technology and wearables to help me with my journey, and I successfully lost sixty pounds. These gadgets helped me with my weight loss journey. They can keep you focused, inspire you, motivate you, and carry your gear.
Apple Watch will include fitness and health tracking features
Update: Fitbit statement below the fold…
If you’re in the market for a Fitbit device and you’re shopping at the Apple Store, you’ll probably have to shop elsewhere to purchase the fitness tracker. Following report from Re/Code last month that Apple planned to drop the Fitbit line of wearable devices from its Apple Store lineup, Apple has today removed the Fitbit Flex and other Fitbit products from its online store following low inventory over the past week. While its unclear why Apple is no longer selling Fitbit products through its retail channels, on the surface the move is similar to Apple’s decision to discontinue selling Bose headphones and speakers at its retail and online stores.
According to Re/code, Apple may soon drop the Fitbit health tracking devices from its retail stores. The report lacked a specific reason for Apple planning to no longer carry Fitbit bands but noted Fitbit’s lack of support for HealthKit on iOS 8 so far as well as Apple’s own fitness tracking device plans with the release of the Apple Watch in 2015.
One thing that Apple didn’t get into during its keynote presentation is any possible gaming experiences that might come with its new Apple Watch wearable. Today, however, EA has announced that it’s already prototyping ideas for wearables like Apple Watch. In a blog post from EA’s Mobile gaming head Frank Gibeau, the company announced announced it has a team working on ideas for gaming on wearables including standalone games and second screen experiences for console and mobile games:
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