Withings Co-Founder Buys Back Digital Health Company From Nokia, Relaunch Planned This Year

[sinsin07]

I understand the products they sell, but the problem is things have changed.

Apparently you don't. See below

Normally you would buy into an ecosystem, tracker, sleep device, blood monitor.

This can be done without using Withings fitness tracker:
Apple Watch
Withings Thermometer
Withings Blood Pressure kit
Withings Wifi Scale
Withings sleep sensor
Ecosytem complete
It's your own limted thinking that compels you to believe that an ecosystem cannot be complete unless all items are from the same vendor.

If someone upgraded from their Withings tracker to an Apple Watch for example and loved it, would they be likely to buy another tracker from Withings? would that also affect any other products they purchased from Withings? Most likely.

This is your own speculation, not fact.

I bought an Apple watch because of the amount of times other smart watch companies went under (Pebble, Jawbone) or changed names (Withings). I feel the Apple Watch is a secure product to own (regardless of the other bits and bobs Withings sell). I get tracking, heart rate and sleep (via an app) from one device from a company that's not going to go under or change names. Scales, I can use those in my bathroom and manually update apple health.

Irrelevant. This is your own use case and feelings.

snip.. Those customers who liked Withings either now hated them (thanks to the app) or changed to a Nokia branded product or another brand.

No supporting data to back up this claim, therefore can be ignored.

As a consumer I would have less confidence in them now and if i changed from Withings to Nokia, am I going to do it again?

Personal feeling. Can't be projected to everyone.

I don't think there is a market for an app to tell someone if they drunk enough water or not. If I workout, I need more water. It's common sense.

If I wanted a pair of scales, I would go for a Fitbit one or one by Xiaomi (costs about £30) or use a pair already in my bathroom. Both have not changed their names and have high sales figures! Whereas Withings/Nokia is in the 'other' category when it comes to sales.

Apple acquired Beddit so either their watch will track sleep soon or they will bring out a device to do it like Beddit. Withings sleep tracking sales would disappear. Also, Withings had an issue in the past where their products couldn't be sold in Apple stores. Again, affecting their sales.

Shame really because I liked their products in 2012, but times have changed. The AW does most things I need and anything it doesn't, I will wait till Apple does it or not bother (me personally, I don't need smart scales or a blood monitor).

I give them 12 months before they shut down.

Yikes, so much personal feelings, personal use cases and unsupported statements.
All irrelevant.[/QUOTE]

 

[chucker23n1]

I understand the products they sell, but the problem is things have changed. Normally you would buy into an ecosystem, tracker, sleep device, blood monitor. If someone upgraded from their Withings tracker to an Apple Watch for example and loved it, would they be likely to buy another tracker from Withings? would that also affect any other products they purchased from Withings? Most likely.

Apple Watch doesn't monitor your blood or try to. With Apple's built-in feature set, it doesn't even serve as a sleep tracker; you can install third-party ones (and I have), but it isn't optimized for that. Instead, HealthKit is designed to aggregate data from many sources.

And how do you use the Watch as a scale or thermometer?

If I wanted a pair of scales, I would go for a Fitbit one or one by Xiaomi (costs about £30) or use a pair already in my bathroom. Both have not changed their names and have high sales figures! Whereas Withings/Nokia is in the 'other' category when it comes to sales.

Withings isn't going to win the stupid race to the bottom pricing game, and if they're smart, they won't play in it either, rendering Xiaomi offerings irrelevant. They have a highly popular scale. That you can get one for cheaper doesn't matter.

Apple acquired Beddit so either their watch will track sleep soon or they will bring out a device to do it like Beddit.

It's been years since that acquisition and while Apple may eventually offer something, they may also have decided that it wasn't a market they were interested in.

Without any sales figures it's hard to tell. On their website they usually focus on their smart watches, fitness trackers.

They… they do? I went to their page and the first entire page is filled with a scale. Below that, a watch and another scale is mentioned. Below that, their app.

 

[honglong1976]

Apparently you don't. See below

This can be done without using Withings fitness tracker:
Apple Watch
Withings Thermometer
Withings Blood Pressure kit
Withings Wifi Scale
Withings sleep sensor
Ecosytem complete
It's your own limted thinking that compels you to believe that an ecosystem cannot be complete unless all items are from the same vendor.

This is your own speculation, not fact.

Irrelevant. This is your own use case and feelings.

No supporting data to back up this claim, therefore can be ignored.

Personal feeling. Can't be projected to everyone.

Yikes, so much personal feelings, personal use cases and unsupported statements.
All irrelevant.

[/QUOTE]
Sorry, I didn’t know I had to write my post in a neutral academic style with references on a personal forum. Oh course I use personal opinion, sometimes neutral. It’s is a forum.

The whole Nokia thing is and was a disaster. I was actually in John Lewis yesterday, and they were promoting the hell out of it like it was a competitor to the Apple Watch when actual fact it’s a dead product. If a customer buys said product, and the app notifies an update is needed and it changes to withings, would they have more or less confidence in their product? Ironically, they had Withing products in the clearance section. Will the clearance items be moved back to the normal section and Nokia to the clearance section? What a mess!

It’s great Withings>Nokia>Withings have some customers who support them, but they will need something more than a pair of scales to survive. I am assuming you have a withings product from the defensive nature?

I am a potential customer for them who invested in their products in the past, but have zero confidence in them.

I mention Apple Watch because it’s a secure product (Jawbone was Withings biggest competitor and failed). I don’t want to invest in a product that could potentially be obsolete because the company has died. The AW replaces a watch and is a great fitness tracker, heart monitor and smart watch. Who cares if apple don’t make a set or scales or a digital thermometer I would use once a year.

Regarding ecosystem, if a company makes a product you really like, it’s possible you are more likely to purchase another product from them. The only reason you would buy scales from someone else while owning an Apple Watch is because Apple don’t make it. All those withing products you mentioned, most people have in their bathroom already and data could be entered manually into the health app. I don’t believe the Withings products are necessary and convergence is the future, not having 20 devices. Just look at tech in general to see convergence in action.

Apple Watch is a watch, notifier, HR monitor, altimeter, built in GPS, cell phone, etc. That’s only after a few years. The future ones may likely have even more sensors. Just a because it’s not possible now doesn’t mean it isn’t in the future.

I haven’t seen anything remotely interesting from Withings for years, and as I said it’s a shame. I did like their products in 2012 but it’s different now.

 

[honglong1976]

Apple Watch doesn't monitor your blood or try to. With Apple's built-in feature set, it doesn't even serve as a sleep tracker; you can install third-party ones (and I have), but it isn't optimized for that. Instead, HealthKit is designed to aggregate data from many sources.

They… they do? I went to their page and the first entire page is filled with a scale. Below that, a watch and another scale is mentioned. Below that, their app.

The AW does pretty much all I need (most likely, the same for most other users). Anything it doesn't do, can be done manually. Weighing myself for example using bathroom scales. Who would have thought AR could be used to measure something, but it works well. Same for AW and heart rate. When I had the Withings tracker I had to do the HR reading manually each time. Nice product though (at the time).

Looks like Nokia have changed it. Last month they had a big focus on their watches. https://web.archive.org/web/20180513081624/https://health.nokia.com/uk/en/

It could also be due to having stock of Nokia branded scales they want to get rid of before they change to Withings.

I was in John Lewis Saturday and there was a large whole display dedicated to Nokia watches. Scales, security cameras, etc were all out of sight (you had to look hard to find them). So, either it has always been like that or John Lewis is shifting the focus on these to get rid of their stock. As a retailer would you be confident stocking Withings again?

After all my previous smartwatch purchases, I am sticking with AW for a while due to the security of Apple not going out of business anytime soon and unlikely to change names.