Apple Follows Through With Plans to Stop Selling Fitbit Devices

[calaverasgrande]

I was happy to see Bose go.
Their products are just plain ugly. Stuff you would expect to see next to your grandma's humidifier, not next to a Mac.
Problem is they ditched one company of comprimised audio fidelity that claims to the contrary, for another company with as bad if not worse audio quality, and at least to my tastes, just s hideous industrial design.

Makes me wonder how much they must pay Kapernick to wear his 'beats' at pressers.

From a consumer perspective I'd prefer if Apple stores carried a wide variety of compatible choices, and if fitbit is not on the bandwagon with the latest SDK and platform for wearable tech so be it.
I do miss the days when I could pop in to an Apple store and pick up an actual Apple book though. Some of us techy dweebs like hardcopy to work from.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

It will be interesting to see if Apple can wag Fitbit.

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I was happy to see Bose go.
Their products are just plain ugly. Stuff you would expect to see next to your grandma's humidifier, not next to a Mac.
Problem is they ditched one company of comprimised audio fidelity that claims to the contrary, for another company with as bad if not worse audio quality, and at least to my tastes, just s hideous industrial design.

Makes me wonder how much they must pay Kapernick to wear his 'beats' at pressers.

From a consumer perspective I'd prefer if Apple stores carried a wide variety of compatible choices, and if fitbit is not on the bandwagon with the latest SDK and platform for wearable tech so be it.
I do miss the days when I could pop in to an Apple store and pick up an actual Apple book though. Some of us techy dweebs like hardcopy to work from.

Bose wasn't that bad. At least they worked well. I felt that the Jawbone speakers were a lot worse for the money, proving that looks aren't everything...

What's an Apple book? I don't remember Apple selling books...

 

[CFreymarc]

Good decision. When I shop at Apple stores, I expect a selection that's curated to include only companies that support the latest iOS features. If I want to take my chances, I go to best buy.

Not only that, I bet they turned down a buyout offer from Apple.

 

[GoCubsGo]

I just don't see why anyone would care if Fitbits are sold in Apple stores. I mean, I never considered Apple the place to buy mine and wouldn't in the future. The fact that Fitbit won't support health kit is really a fail on their part.

 

[tcm1975]

Still think this about eliminating the product most consumers would call a watered down version of the iWatch. My guess is FitBit found out Apple was going to pull the product line and their response was "we won't make it healthkit compatible." Between now and the release of the iWatch you are going to have millions of people in Apple Stores for the holidays and a big percentage of those people aren't very tech savvy. It sounds silly to type but there are millions of people who think if they buy something in an Apple store it's an Apple product. Apple doesn't want a bunch of Grandparents and non tech savvy Parents coming in for an iWatch and then leaving with a Fitbit. They want them to leave with an Apple Gift Card to be used next year for the iWatch. You're selling a Mercedes they can pick up next year. Last thing you want is to give people the option of a Honda they can put under the tree this Christmas.

 

[Cloudane]

Fair enough.

Some things Apple do (like I seem to recall the way they kicked Bose out) smack of them being petulant children throwing toys out of prams - in fitting with the spats they had with a lot of their previous partners and manufacturers, especially when Steve was around.

But in this instance, it's Fitbit refusing to properly support the iPhone. It annoys me no end when developers are too lazy to support a device in the way customers expect, or rush out "support" then abandon it and leave a half-implemented buggy mess.. so I think Apple are doing people a favour here.

 

[Jakexb]

Fitbit is not on my good side. First the healthkit thing. Second, the calorie tracking on their app has been completely busted for a week now. They even released a version to fix it and now it's messed up in a different way.

 

[clive27]

As a Fitbit Flex and Aria user, I'm very disappointed at the Fitbit's decision to not to integrate their product into the Apple Health kit.
I love both products (Flex and Aria), but I only invested ~$230 for Fitbit. vs tens of thousands of dollars into the Apple ecosystem.
I won't abandon Apples because of the Fitbit's decision, but I am willing to find alternative tracker if Fitbit doesn't cooperate with Apple. Sadly, I will have to manually log my weight when I decide to do away from Fitbit.

 

[Edsel]

Waiting for Apple to announce a line of designer clothing to match their jewelry division. Perhaps an Apple car is in their future too. Call it the "Apple iPutt".

I am beginning to feel like a prisoner of the Apple "ecosystem". After 11 years with Apple products, I'm looking for a way out.

 

[BornAgainMac]

Apple can do what CompUSA use to do with the Macs in the old days. Place the Fitbit Devices in a corner with no sales support, broken, dirty, and broken lighting. They can even put a faded Microsoft poster and stick a few Microsoft Surfaces in that corner.

 

[DMinTX]

Sadly, I will have to manually log my weight when I decide to do away from Fitbit.

Look at the Withings products. We have the WS-30 scale, the blood pressure monitor and my wife has a Pulse Ox tracker (I will be getting one, too).

All play nice with HealthKit and partner with other apps as well. We use MyFitnessPal for food logging.

 

[fivetoedbear]

I'm an avid FitBit user. But the Aria scale is flaky and unreliable, so I bought a Withings scale.

I really don't understand Fitbit's thinking. It's like a photo app not supporting the Photo Library. It's the hubris of thinking that we'd want to buy into their yet-another-ecosystem with their one of a kind device. It's the device, dummies! Plug into all the ecosystems with an excellent and affordable device and make more money!

Withings supports HealthKit. I like the scale. And they have what looks like a halfway decent tracker.

 

[Toltepeceno]

Good decision. When I shop at Apple stores, I expect a selection that's curated to include only companies that support the latest iOS features. If I want to take my chances, I go to best buy.

Yes, choice is always bad.

 

[69Mustang]

Still think this about eliminating the product most consumers would call a watered down version of the iWatch. My guess is FitBit found out Apple was going to pull the product line and their response was "we won't make it healthkit compatible." Between now and the release of the iWatch you are going to have millions of people in Apple Stores for the holidays and a big percentage of those people aren't very tech savvy. It sounds silly to type but there are millions of people who think if they buy something in an Apple store it's an Apple product. Apple doesn't want a bunch of Grandparents and non tech savvy Parents coming in for an iWatch and then leaving with a Fitbit. They want them to leave with an Apple Gift Card to be used next year for the iWatch. You're selling a Mercedes they can pick up next year. Last thing you want is to give people the option of a Honda they can put under the tree this Christmas.

This doesn't make any sense. If that was the case, they would stop selling Fuelbands and UP's as well.

iWatch analogous to a Mercedes? teehee. Well maybe a Smart car

On topic: Who would buy a FitBit (at full retail) from an Apple Store? These decisions by FitBit and Apple probably won't amount to much for either company.

 

[brianvictor7]

Fair enough.

Some things Apple do (like I seem to recall the way they kicked Bose out) smack of them being petulant children throwing toys out of prams - in fitting with the spats they had with a lot of their previous partners and manufacturers, especially when Steve was around.

How does it make sense to sell a hostile competitor's products in one's own retail store?

 

[Kariya]

Apple is banning FitBit because they refuse to use HealthKit, and instead want users to use their own app.

Not really, they're banning it because it doesn't make sense for product that doesn't integrate with Apple products/ecosystem to be sold by Apple.

The Bose one is a total power play though. That and Apple now makes more money selling Beats to you than Bose.

 

[ziggie216]

You know Tim Jobs why don't you remove Kindle, Pondora, Spotify, any Google App fromyour Apple Store? Clearly they're your competition.

Give us choice or we shall leave!

Apple doesnt need to cause they don't sell Pandora, Spotify and any Google App from the Apple Store. :roll eyes:

AppStore != Apple Store

 

[TallManNY]

This will be viewed negatively, but it makes sense on a few levels:

• Square footage. There are a large number of Apple Watch models and bands. There is only so much square footage in a retail store. Streamlining the number of products and accessories affords them the required space to sell an ambitious new line of products.
• Simplification of the story. When a customer comes in, the choices and messaging around Apple Watch is going to be complex. Why complicate it further by having competing products on the shelf that retail employees have to compare/contrast with customers?
• Ecosystem. FitBit has chosen to not add support for HealthKit. Not much else to say about this.

This. It isn't a war. It is that in four or so months Apple needs an entire corner in every store devoted to a new product line. Stuff is going to have to move around. They certainly don't want sales people explaining the watch and then losing sales as folks buy a $100 fitbit. The Healthkit integrations is an issue, but I don't see it as the real driver here.

 

[proline]

Yes, choice is always bad.

Giving people the choice to buy **** products at Apple Store prices is bad. We have Best Buy for a reason- to carry that stuff at a discount.

 

[Rique]

Fitbit's Reply in a nutshell:

Image

How did that work out for Saruman?

 

[charlitos]

Except that Fitbit has the ability to last several days on a charge as well as track sleeping habits.

"It has the ability to last several days on a charge"

That's all. The fact that you have to charge it so often is what makes it not so suited for sleep tracking. But the Apple Watch can also track sleeping habits and it probably does a much better job at it.

 

[H2SO4]

This makes sense to me. Why sell a competitor in your retail stores?

Supermarkets do it all the time.

 

[Black Belt]

FitBit's Loss

'Tis a shame Fitbit decided to be a bitch about it and refuse to progress. I liked Fitbit except that I lost that sombitch so much. The tech was nice. The bands sucked because they were only made for girliemen's wrists. My Aria is nice when it works. Fare thee well Fitbit, t'was nice knowing you.

 

[StyxMaker]

Jawbone's app doesn't integrate with Health, does it?

Yes, it does.

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Not caring.



Interested in the Jawbone UP3 for something beyond an activity tracker.



Looks cheap in comparison to the Apple Watch. I don't need a watch.

My interest in the Apple Watch dropped considerably when Jawbone announced the Up3.

 

[Fishticks]

It feels so good to be AAPL's friend.