“Apple may soon stop selling the popular Fitbit devices, as it clears way for its own wearable technology product set to launch sometime next year, according to sources,” Lauren Goode reports for Re/code.
“The move comes a week after Fitbit issued a statement saying it was still ‘evaluating integration with HealthKit,’ Apple’s new software application that acts as a central repository for health and fitness data on iPhones,” Goode reports. “Many other health and fitness app makers, including Strava, Withings, iHealth, Jawbone Up and MyFitnessPal, have willingly updated their apps to give users the option to send their data to HealthKit.”
Goode reports, “Fitbit is not the only wearable product Apple sells, and it’s unclear whether Apple will continue to sell other competing devices, including the Nike+ FuelBand.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
Nice to see Apple not putting up with others’ crap. They’ve been selling those in Apple stores for a while now, and Fitbit can’t develop a simple app? Screw’em.
(Apple even autocorrects “fitbit” to “Fitbit” in the iOS keyboard!)
Maybe, possibly, the writer of this questionable article has possibly stumbled onto a possible, although perhaps not totally impossible, outcome which is yet to be determined. It is really too early to say, but that is the hot rumor. Sheesh, just about anyone could take a WAG at this possible rumor… really now…are we really informed of anything by this.
I thought Nike discontinued Fuel band, before Apple Watch announcement. File the article as one written by a uninformed journalist.
Nike has discontinued development of the Fuel Band, but it is still producing them. I believe it is scheduled to stop production by the end of the year, but who knows.
“it was still ‘evaluating integration with HealthKit”
It’s their funeral.
Apple has to make room in its stores for its own expanding product portfolio.
There is absolutely no reason for Apple to carry a product that is spearheading a competing fitness tracking platform to its own, when there are numerous other manufacturers who are happy to play ball with Apple and HealthKit.
I was furious when I first read that Fitbit was not going to plug into HealthKit, because one of the reasons I bought a Fitbit Flex in the first place was because it seemed like a no-brainer that they would make the data compatible with HealthKit. While I haven’t gotten rid of mine yet, I certainly have not been as diligent with it since upgrading to iOS 8 and then to an iPhone 6 Plus. Once the Watch comes out, though, that Flex is toast.
I agree, it would be misleading for Apple to cary a health product in their brick or online store that was not compatible with Apple’s technology.
Fitbit runs a closed ecosystem.
I bought both a Fitbit One and a Withings Smart body Analyzer (smart scale) last year.
The Withings scale will happily send data wherever I tell it to, even to the Fitbit tracking app.
Fitbit? No dice. You can only use Fitbit’s app, or a couple of approved apps. Most likely they paid Fitbit to get into the ecosystem.
When I’m ready to dump my Fitbit, I’ll probably be looking at Withings, who are already on board with Healtkit (unless I wind up getting an Apple Watch – I’m still not completely sold on that).
If you want to stay relevant – especially once the Apple Watch is out – you need to offer something different and be aware that even the most active person isn’t going to be in the gym or running 24/7. That’s why I got a Jawbone Up – it integrates with a whole host of useful apps (myfitnesspal, Health) it offers useful functionality outside of just activity tracking (sleep tracking, silent vibration alarms) and crazy battery life (2 weeks!!!!), but most of all it’s very discreet and it *isn’t* another watch. I already have a watch – I don’t want to use a fitness tracker as my watch and I don’t want to look like a complete tool with a watch on each arm (or worse, two watches on one arm). Even if I get an Apple Watch, I would keep the Up.