“Fitbit’s shares plunged following the announcement of its first colour smartwatch at the CES tech show,” Leo Kelion reports for BBC News. “The San Francisco-based company’s stock fell more than 18%.”
“The Blaze watch provides notification alerts and can control what music a wirelessly-connected smartphone is playing via its colour touchscreen. But like the rest of the firm’s line-up, its focus is on health,” Kelion reports. “It does not include its own GPS chip, so it must be paired with a phone to provide location-tracking data.”
“The central module costs $200 (£136) and can be swapped between a range of wristbands and straps that will cost between $30 and $130,” Kelion reports. “That makes it cheaper than the Apple Watch… The question is whether consumers will prefer to spend more to have the ability to tap into a large library of third-party apps. ‘If I were an investor, I would ask ‘what competitive advantage does Fitbit bring to the table?’ and ‘do we want to compete against Apple, Google and Samsung?” said Julie Ask from Forrester Research. ‘Having an app ecosystem, and ease of use is so important in this sector.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: ‘Tis quite the wakeup call – or at least it should be – when your stock drops 18% after you unveil your new product.
As we wrote on Tuesday: “A bit of advice for Fitbit: Concentrate on cheap (under $100) fitness bands until you’re bought or you fold, whichever comes first.”
SEE ALSO:
Fitbit either doesn’t understand Apple Watch or hopes consumers won’t; neither is good for the company – January 6, 2016
Fitbit exec calls Apple Watch a ‘toy,’ Fitbit shares crater more than 13% after unveiling Apple Watch Sport knockoff – January 5, 2016
It’s official: The Apple Watch is destroying the so-called competition – November 20, 2015
As Apple Watch sales ramp, Swiss watch makers suffer biggest slump in six years – November 19, 2015
Apple Watch models take top four spots on 10 most-wanted smartwatches list – November 18, 2015
Apple Watch is 2016’s hottest holiday gift – November 18, 2015
Apple has already sold more than $1.7 billion worth of Apple Watches – October 29, 2015
Strategy Analytics: Apple Watch sells 4.5 million units in Q315, takes 74% global smartwatch market share – October 28, 2015
Apple Watch users are abandoning traditional watches – September 15, 2015
Over 1 million Apple Watches already sold in China – September 3, 2015
Apple Watch already dominates smart-wearables market, says IDC – August 28, 2015
IDC estimates Apple sold 3.6 million Apple Watch units in Q2 – August 27, 2015
Best Buy CEO: Apple Watch demand is ‘so strong’ that we’re expanding sales to all 1,050 stores – August 25, 2015
Swiss watch exports decline most since 2009 – August 20, 2015
Apple Watch takes 88% of total smartwatch revenue – August 14, 2015
Apple Watch kills a entire industry in three months – August 12, 2015
U.S. wristwatch sales post biggest drop in seven years after Apple Watch debut – August 7, 2015
Apple Watch dominates smartwatches with 75% market share – July 28, 2015
Juniper Research: Apple is world’s #1 smartwatch maker – July 23, 2015
Canalys: Apple ships 4.2 million Apple Watches in Q2 to become world’s top wearables vendor – July 21, 2015
Apple Watch satisfaction is unprecedented at 97%; beats original iPhone and iPad – July 20, 2015
Non-techies love their Apple Watches even more than tech users – July 20, 2015
Apple Watch is Apple’s most successful product debut ever – June 1, 2015
The only thing Blaze can look forward to is toast.
Blaze is already shot down in flames.
So what explains Apple’s stock demise? Bad kimchi?
If I have to explain it to you it explains a lot about your cluelessness regarding Apple’s history with Wall Street and the Rinse & Repeat of great quarterly announcements followed by market manipulation and unfounded rumors (as what is going on now) that drives the stock down again until the next great and usually record-breaking quarterly announcements which reflect how the rumors were totally wrong – yet again. The more you beat up on Apple the more stupid and ignorant you sound. No one here takes you seriously as a result because you have no historical understanding of the problem. Wall Street thinks at any moment Apple must have gone as far as it can, which is BS. Wait until the Jan. 26th’s Apple Earnings Report when you’ll suddenly go REAL quiet. But then you’ll be back as soon as Wall Street’s cyclical unfounded Apple rumors & manipulation come back again conveniently forgetting again this pattern.
I knew this company was going to fall down hard as soon as Apple Watch was released. They should have planned an exit strategy if they were smart. At least the investors should have. I would have cashed out at AW’s day -1.
Design, it looks like apple watch, they should expect failure.
And FitBit’s watch will ‘Blaze out’ in a quarter or two.
It’s going to go down in a Blaze of…….Oh forget it, low hanging fruit…
Ahhh. So finally the investment community realizes the future of wearables looks like an Apple Watch, and it would be stupid to try to beat Apple at it’s own game.
Why did that take so long?
“It does not include its own GPS chip, so it must be paired with a phone to provide location-tracking data.”
So Apple’s not alone in this. Again, why did it take so long for people to figure out Apple made the best trade-offs they could with today’s technology?
It serves a different purpose than the Apple watch and it is half the price. I can see it selling well. FitBit has been doing extremely well despite the Apple watch. I expect that to continue.
Stock price fluctuations say nothing about the actual prospects of the company. It is merely speculation and much of it is based on fear and rumour.
It *served* a different purpose. Now it’s a watch.
It was doing fine before – now it’s competition.