Fitbit Debuts New Versa 2 Smartwatch and $10/Month 'Fitbit Premium' Service

[ani4ani]

Yeah.... No thank you, I'm just too much of an Apple fan boy to even bother. It's not iOS or AppleOS. So, no matter HOW cool and great Samsung phones can become, as long as anything that runs non Apple Software, be it Android, or otherwise, it's NO good for me. I love the consistency of the iOS and AppleOS and TVOS and WatchOS, etc they just work. Hell, even the activation of my AppleCard and the use of AppleCard just works seamlessly and I LOVE it. Plus I just feel productive with everything working together with so little effort of worrying about anything. Windows? Oh how awful that couple of my clients doing powerpoint presentation and right in the middle of their presentation, it pops up a window saying window needs to update or something, HOW FRIGGEN EMBARRASING and they didn't know what to do, but to let it do it's thing. Apple or iPAD Keynote. NOT only Keynote does some awesome transitions and effects, one doesn't have to worry about any interruptions for updates. One can Actually control when they want to update NOT what windows says NOW. Wow.

Sorry I digress from the Fitbit watch to Apple watch to a whole set of other things. Anyway, no thank you for fitbit. Got it all under my AppleWatch and enjoying it immensely. And besides, like the samsungs phone market share, Apple is around 40% + market share for AppleWatches above all else combined.

You’re the perfect Apple Customer!
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The way I look at subscriptions is to multiply them out by the 50 odd years that you are going to want them for, and that's the real price. So in Office 365's case, you're talking ~$5,000. Now ask yourself, if you had to pay $5,000 up front for Office 365, would you think it's a bargain? Would you even pay it? Probably not hey? But you are willing to pay that $5,000 in instalments, simply because your brain can't process that it is actually $5,000 that you're paying for it. And this is the insidious cleverness of the subscription model.

Maybe now you might have another look at the free offerings of Office Libre and Google Docs/Sheets/etc. All are excellent products. I personally use Google Docs and Sheets daily, and Office Libre almost weekly.

Goodness me, what a brilliant way of looking at subscription services. I have worked out my electricity supply subscription service is going to cost me 400 thousand dollars over the next 30 years; no way, I’m going to buy a Bentley now...or should I be responsible and buy a power plant?

 

[Khedron]

That’s the point, I can do all of that without my phone.

The other poster made it look like the Fitbit offered cellular service for the 10 dollar a month subscription service, that’s disappointing guess Fitbit can’t really compete
With the Apple Watch.

No you can't. You need an iPhone to use Apple Watch. Being able to leave your phone (accidentally or on purpose) in a different location for a short period of time with some minimal cellular functionality remaining is not worthy of a monthly subscription IMO.

 

[[AUT] Thomas]

So sick of subscription services. Every company is jumping on this bandwagon to have never-ending income but not everything needs to be a subscription.

+1000

In the past we bought an app and that got updates for like 2 years. Then the next major update was published (2.x) which we could upgrade to or not. If we take a 1,5 year life cycle for a major version Fitbit is charging 120$ for that service (80$/yr x 1.5yr). Now that is after we already purchased their hardware.
That isn't reasonable but pure greed.

Anyway... let's hope this will flop...

 

[FFR]

No you can't. You need an iPhone to use Apple Watch. Being able to leave your phone (accidentally or on purpose) in a different location for a short period of time with some minimal cellular functionality remaining is not worthy of a monthly subscription IMO.

What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t I have a phone.

I can leave my Phone at home and have all of those features on my Apple Watch. You can’t have that with the fit bit or the it’s subscription.

 

[Khedron]

What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t I have a phone.

I can leave my Phone at home and have all of those features on my Apple Watch. You can’t have that with the fit bit or the it’s subscription.

With Fitbit you can own any phone you want. With Apple Watch it's iPhone only. The Fitbit subscription is for fitness not subsidising phone companies.

Apple Watch LTE is one of the biggest scams ever. You pretend you want some minimal cellular functions but don't want to carry a phone (because the mandatory iPhone is so poorly designed for portability). So you pay a monthly fee to get the occasional text message that you then don't reply to until you get back to your phone anyway because the Apple Watch interface is too inadequate.

Meanwhile you use the Apple Watch single-lead ECG once every few months and pretend you're being clever and checking on your heart health whereas the Fitbit provides 24/7 monitoring that the shoddy, expanding Apple Watch battery can't even begin to compete with.

 

[FFR]

With Fitbit you can own any phone you want. With Apple Watch it's iPhone only. The Fitbit subscription is for fitness not subsidising phone companies.

Good thing I wanted an iPhone .
Don’t know what that has to do with the Fitbit subscription.

But Apple Watch gives you the fitness for free, activity and health and reminders on the watch. No subscription required. That’s what we were discussing.

Apple Watch lte subscription gives you the ability to use the apple watch to make calls send messages or streams music or podcasts with out needing to have your phone on you. Fitbit can’t do that with or without a cellular subscription. Regardless of what phone it may function with, fitbit still can’t do that.

Apple Watch LTE is the biggest scam ever. You pretend you want some minimal cellular functions but don't want to carry a phone (because the mandatory iPhone is so poorly designed for portability). So you pay a monthly fee to get the occasional text message that you then reply to when you get back to your phone because the Apple Watch interface is too inadequate anyway.

Clearly you have never used an Apple Watch . No idea why your claiming to by offering a first hand account of how you “think” it works.

It’s actually great to use. And offers much more functionality over the Fitbit.

Especially with the Apple Watch lte subscription that you brought up as an explanation as to why Fitbit is charging a subscription for health and fitness that apple includes for free.

Hopefully your not one of those individuals that labels everything they can’t afford a scam, since the product and service are neither fraudulent or breaking the law.

Since you have been advocating quite loudly for the Fitbit and it’s subscription, does that mean your getting one and paying the fitness subscription?

 

[Newtons Apple]

Yup, this is true. What I’ve found is that you need to wait a month or two after a new Fitbit product is released. Every time I’ve bought a Fitbit product day 1 I’ve had to return it or just suffer with it till an update (ionic, aria 2, charge 3).

I’m kinda pumped about the Versa 2, but I’ll hold off for a few months. I’ve learned my lesson.

Just buy locally to avoid have to deal with FitBit. When I returned mine to Best Buy, the girl admitted that fitbit hardware was being returned like crazy!

 

[manu chao]

In the past we bought an app and that got updates for like 2 years. Then the next major update was published (2.x) which we could upgrade to or not. If we take a 1,5 year life cycle for a major version Fitbit is charging 120$ for that service (80$/yr x 1.5yr). Now that is after we already purchased their hardware.
That isn't reasonable but pure greed.

Can you name one feature you'd want from fitness tracking devices and software that would require this extra optional subscription?

See, you can't because everything you would expect from a Fitbit device and the Fitbit app comes for free (after device purchase). Only if you want something akin to a hotline you can call for fitness tips, you'd have to get this subscription. BTW, Fitbit has offered such a subscription for years but funnily, until yesterday this doesn't have seemed to bother you.
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Especially with the Apple Watch lte subscription that you brought up as an explanation as to why Fitbit is charging a subscription for health and fitness that apple includes for free.

Can you tell me again what health and fitness features the Apple Watch includes for free that require a subscription with Fitbits?

 

[Khedron]

Can you name one feature you'd want from fitness tracking devices and software that would require this extra optional subscription?

See, you can't because everything you would expect from a Fitbit device and the Fitbit app comes for free (after device purchase). Only if you want something akin to a hotline you can call for fitness tips, you'd have to get this subscription. BTW, Fitbit has offered such a subscription for years but funnily, until yesterday this doesn't have seemed to bother you.
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Can you tell me again what health and fitness features the Apple Watch includes for free that require a subscription with Fitbits?

Apple fans are also unable to recognise that this is the Versa 2 and think that Fitbit has only just come up this design in response to the Apple Watch. One fan even seemed to suggest that Apple invented the concept of rose gold watches.

 

[manu chao]

Ultimately I think the subscription service will flop, though.

Maybe, but they have offered it for many years already, so somehow it seems to be worth the effort for them.

Trying to retrace when it started, I found this reference that they already had a subscription service in March 2015 when they bought the online coaching company FitStar. Here is a Youtube video talking about the Fitbit Premium service in January 2014. Here is a Quora post from January 2013 mentioning it.

 

[Oohara]

At half the cost of a base model Apple Watch this looks like a pretty nice alternative. IMO the best looking one so far, as I'm not into round watches. Very happy they removed the logo from the front. If I were to move to Android for my daily driver phone, I would definitely give this a look.

 

[FFR]

Can you name one feature you'd want from fitness tracking devices and software that would require this extra optional subscription?

See, you can't because everything you would expect from a Fitbit device and the Fitbit app comes for free (after device purchase). Only if you want something akin to a hotline you can call for fitness tips, you'd have to get this subscription. BTW, Fitbit has offered such a subscription for years but funnily, until yesterday this doesn't have seemed to bother you.
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Can you tell me again what health and fitness features the Apple Watch includes for free that require a subscription with Fitbits?

Sure I could, but this started because somebody was trying to compare fitbits subscription service to apple watches Cellular plan.

One poster even gladly claimed the Apple Watch lte to be both fraudulent and illegal just because Fitbit is unable to offer anything close.

Said poster would not answer if he was actually going to purchase a fit bit and subscribe to it’s premium service, even though being extremely vocal in defending Fitbit and it’s services through dubious statements and false claims.

Are you getting the new Fitbit and subscribing to its premium service?

 

[manu chao]

Are you getting the new Fitbit and subscribing to its premium service?

No, I’m a Fitbit Charge user. But why would I get the Premium service? This service has existed since at least January 2013 (see above). I got my first Fitbit that year and haven’t felt any need to get the Premium service as have probably 99% all Fitbit users.

So many people in this thread think that from now forward you’d have to pay a subscription to get the features you previously got for free with Fitbit devices while nothing could be further from the truth. Fitbit is selling you an online coaching service as other third parties do as well. But Macrumors puts the word subscription in the title and everybody gets their panties into a bunch.

 

[DoctorTech]

Wow I guess no free lunch right? It seems very invasive for employers to track this type of information. I’m not sure how I feel about insurance companies having that much information either but they already have our medical records anyways right?

It reminds me of automobile insurance companies who give discounts to people who drive safely but do so by tracking them.

Will I get a health insurance discount for exercising?

I think that is where it is all heading. I understand it, I just don't like it. Some Insurance companies give discounts in the past to non-smokers and employers have frequently offered smoking cessation classes to help employees quit and thus lower the cost of employer provided healthcare. I am fine with that. But technology is making "Big Brotherism" so easy today and I am not at all comfortable with the direction this is heading.

 

[michaeljk]

Oh boy, I can’t wait to pay $10 a month to follow personalized fitness advice for a week or two and then consistently ignore it after that!

In all seriousness, I wholeheartedly agree that subscription fatigue is a thing.

Perhaps if there weren’t SO many subscription services out there, this could be a thing. I mean *everything* has a subscription these days. Gaming services, TV streaming services, movie ticket services, food delivery apps, ride sharing apps, grocery delivery services, photo editing apps, clothing curation services, weather apps, Reddit apps, car washes, fitness advice services, etc. etc. etc.

Sure, you don’t *need* to sign up for any of these. But when I look at what I need to prioritize, “fitness advice” falls very low on that list, especially for $10 a month.

You know where all of this started: Fitness Gyms. I once represented a company that owned fitness gyms. In reviewing their revenue model, the needed something like a 3 to 1 ratio of paying members to actual users to turn a profit. In other words, if every member of the gym suddenly decided to actually use their subscription to the Gym, it would have utterly lacked the capacity to accommodate them. They were counting on the revenue stream from a substantial majority of subscribers to not use their product in order to maintain profitability.

I remember when recurring monthly costs were only for things you actually used all the time: Utility bills, the newspaper, print magazines, my local public radio channel.

 

[JohnApples]

You know where all of this started: Fitness Gyms. I once represented a company that owned fitness gyms. In reviewing their revenue model, the needed something like a 3 to 1 ratio of paying members to actual users to turn a profit. In other words, if every member of the gym suddenly decided to actually use their subscription to the Gym, it would have utterly lacked the capacity to accommodate them. They were counting on the revenue stream from a substantial majority of subscribers to not use their product in order to maintain profitability.

I remember when recurring monthly costs were only for things you actually used all the time: Utility bills, the newspaper, print magazines, my local public radio channel.

This is exactly why I hate subscription models. Their goal is to make money from those who pay and don’t use the service to the full extent (or at all).

If too many people are getting full value from a subscription, then the model technically isn’t working.

 

[Morgenland]

Subscriptions are great for some things (Office 365 is a bargain for what you get). For others it’s ridiculous. This is one of the ridiculous uses.
This Fitbit “watch” is DOA.

On Mac, you still can get Office 2019 w/o subscription, stand alone.
And cloud share options can be found for free as you might know.
I never had to support the sub« concept. There's always another way.

Bargain?
Office stand alone: 129.99 $
Office 365 Subscr. 69 $/y

Fitbit will find customers for its peculiar watch rental, I'm sure it's the similiar people that make Microsoft happy.

 

[manu chao]

Fitbit will find customers for its peculiar watch rental, I'm sure it's the similiar people that make Microsoft happy.

And some people will continue to peddle the lie that it is somehow necessary to have a subscription to enjoy a Fitbit Verso 2. Meanwhile 99% of all Fitbit users (including Verso 2 users) will be happily using their Fitbit devices without paying a single Cent in subscription costs.

 

[ani4ani]

On Mac, you still can get Office 2019 w/o subscription, stand alone.
And cloud share options can be found for free as you might know.
I never had to support the sub« concept. There's always another way.

Bargain?
Office stand alone: 129.99 $
Office 365 Subscr. 69 $/y

Fitbit will find customers for its peculiar watch rental, I'm sure it's the similiar people that make Microsoft happy.

For $9.99 a month I can get 1 TB of Apple cloud storage (a subscription).....for $6.99 a month I can get 1TB of MS OneDrive storage (a subscription) with free Office 365! Apple clearly get customers for its peculiar cloud rental (bargain not) so I’m sure Fitbit can too.

 

[manu chao]

For $9.99 a month I can get 1 TB of Apple cloud storage (a subscription).....for $6.99 a month I can get 1TB of MS OneDrive storage (a subscription) with free Office 365! Apple clearly get customers for its peculiar cloud rental (bargain not) so I’m sure Fitbit can too.

Is anybody of those commenting on Fitbit's subscription model actually aware what features said subscription service has? We all know what an iCloud storage subscription gives us, we all know what an Office 365 subscription gives us. But does anybody reading this post know what Fitbit's subscription offers without first having to look it up?

 

[TTTedP]

get a Garmin

 

[Meandmunch]

I had to squint at that to tell if that was an Apple Watch or not.

 

[donlab]

That’s the point, I can do all of that without my phone.

The other poster made it look like the Fitbit offered cellular service for the 10 dollar a month subscription service, that’s disappointing guess Fitbit can’t really compete
With the Apple Watch.

No, just pointing out the AW has a $10 monthly sub as an option too.

 

[FFR]

No, just pointing out the AW has a $10 monthly sub as an option too.

Yes for cellular connectivity, which Fitbit does not offer.

 

[sofila]

Basically 90% bashing without having understood that the subscription service is optional