Fitbit is tanking as a company (apparently) - will it be around in 2-4 years?
ElJefeChief
Posts: 650 Member
I really love my FitBit and I'll keep replacing it and updating it - but the stock has collapsed and apparently they are selling huge overstock on Amazon and other places now, at deep discounts.
What do people think?
What do people think?
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I hope they stay around for awhile. I love my fitbit3
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I have had several Fitbits over the years. I actually tested and worked with them on some issues with the original Surge. They make good products but margins in electronics shrink quickly, so any fluff, overage, or in their case the recall of the FORCE, has a big impact. They can pay and do all the R&D, but then get undercut by some Chinese company making knock-offs for less than half. Throw in multiuse smart watches now and there isn't much meat left on the bone.1
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Just checked amazon and they are on sale but not that discounted. I need a new one and you got me excited for a good price. lol If you see them at deep discounts, I would like a link so I can upgrade mine. I love having my fitbit as a tool but if they do go down, there are so many other fitness trackers.
I am actually not too surprised since the phone companies are coming out with "all-in-one" smart watches that tend to have more features and track your fitness just as well as fitbit. Pretty sure Apple and Android smart watches will be the demise of the fitbit phenomenon. I can also say that pretty much everyone I know has had their fitbit break at least once and needed to contact the company to get a replacement. I personally have needed 2 replacements and I have only had a fitbit for a year.1 -
I really do hope they stick around, but I guess if things get worse, I'll take a look into competitor fitness watches.0
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I have had several Fitbits over the years. I actually tested and worked with them on some issues with the original Surge. They make good products but margins in electronics shrink quickly, so any fluff, overage, or in their case the recall of the FORCE, has a big impact. They can pay and do all the R&D, but then get undercut by some Chinese company making knock-offs for less than half. Throw in multiuse smart watches now and there isn't much meat left on the bone.
This makes me wonder then - what's the future for FitBit? Still a market share leader, good size installed user base, but sales have lagged and margins (as you say) have gotten razor thin.
Full disclosure, I own about a dozen shares of FitBit (I have a tiny portfolio outside of my 401K which I play with for fun).
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id picture them to go the way of garmin GPS devices. they will need to adapt as wearable tech by smart phone companies become more and more popular0
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Never heard of 'em.0
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I have had several Fitbits over the years. I actually tested and worked with them on some issues with the original Surge. They make good products but margins in electronics shrink quickly, so any fluff, overage, or in their case the recall of the FORCE, has a big impact. They can pay and do all the R&D, but then get undercut by some Chinese company making knock-offs for less than half. Throw in multiuse smart watches now and there isn't much meat left on the bone.
This makes me wonder then - what's the future for FitBit? Still a market share leader, good size installed user base, but sales have lagged and margins (as you say) have gotten razor thin.
Full disclosure, I own about a dozen shares of FitBit (I have a tiny portfolio outside of my 401K which I play with for fun).
I have never owned Fitbit, but have stock in a few other companies in the market. Even though they are a market leader, I jsut never saw a great deal of value in niche activity trackers as such with global leaders like Garmin and Polar out there. I am still surprise the offerings from both of those companies haven't tanked Fitbit, but it is like Garmin and Polar found it good enough to make something "LIKE" a Fitbit instead of better.
Anyway, for longevity I have no clue. Not a stock I would own personally is all I can say.1 -
Just checked amazon and they are on sale but not that discounted. I need a new one and you got me excited for a good price. lol If you see them at deep discounts, I would like a link so I can upgrade mine. I love having my fitbit as a tool but if they do go down, there are so many other fitness trackers.
I am actually not too surprised since the phone companies are coming out with "all-in-one" smart watches that tend to have more features and track your fitness just as well as fitbit. Pretty sure Apple and Android smart watches will be the demise of the fitbit phenomenon. I can also say that pretty much everyone I know has had their fitbit break at least once and needed to contact the company to get a replacement. I personally have needed 2 replacements and I have only had a fitbit for a year.
I saw the Charge HR and the Flex (? the one with just 4 dots for a display) on the clearance shelf at a Target store the other day. The Charge HRs were tagged at $40 and the Flexes were tagged at $30.1 -
Just checked amazon and they are on sale but not that discounted. I need a new one and you got me excited for a good price. lol If you see them at deep discounts, I would like a link so I can upgrade mine. I love having my fitbit as a tool but if they do go down, there are so many other fitness trackers.
I am actually not too surprised since the phone companies are coming out with "all-in-one" smart watches that tend to have more features and track your fitness just as well as fitbit. Pretty sure Apple and Android smart watches will be the demise of the fitbit phenomenon. I can also say that pretty much everyone I know has had their fitbit break at least once and needed to contact the company to get a replacement. I personally have needed 2 replacements and I have only had a fitbit for a year.
I saw the Charge HR and the Flex (? the one with just 4 dots for a display) on the clearance shelf at a Target store the other day. The Charge HRs were tagged at $40 and the Flexes were tagged at $30.
The discount on the Charge HR probably has more to do with it being replaced by a newer model (Charge 2) and the Flex being older and somewhat replaced by the Alta.1 -
I certainly hope not. I love my Fitbit. I have the Charge 2. I could see some potential changes they could make to stay relevant. In these times, you have to keep innovating to keep up with technology.0
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I get e-mail updates from a thread on the Fitbit forums every day with people offering to pay good money for a Fitbit app for the Apple Watch. The thread is 17 pages long and has been active since 2014. There are thousands of people asking Fitbit to take their money, but Fitbit just ignores it.0
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I get e-mail updates from a thread on the Fitbit forums every day with people offering to pay good money for a Fitbit app for the Apple Watch. The thread is 17 pages long and has been active since 2014. There are thousands of people asking Fitbit to take their money, but Fitbit just ignores it.
Fitbit remains a hardware company, though they could run there platform open to other device and do SAS (software as a service).1 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Just checked amazon and they are on sale but not that discounted. I need a new one and you got me excited for a good price. lol If you see them at deep discounts, I would like a link so I can upgrade mine. I love having my fitbit as a tool but if they do go down, there are so many other fitness trackers.
I am actually not too surprised since the phone companies are coming out with "all-in-one" smart watches that tend to have more features and track your fitness just as well as fitbit. Pretty sure Apple and Android smart watches will be the demise of the fitbit phenomenon. I can also say that pretty much everyone I know has had their fitbit break at least once and needed to contact the company to get a replacement. I personally have needed 2 replacements and I have only had a fitbit for a year.
I saw the Charge HR and the Flex (? the one with just 4 dots for a display) on the clearance shelf at a Target store the other day. The Charge HRs were tagged at $40 and the Flexes were tagged at $30.
The discount on the Charge HR probably has more to do with it being replaced by a newer model (Charge 2) and the Flex being older and somewhat replaced by the Alta.
And the Flex was also replaced by the Flex 2. The original Flex has been out for years (I bought mine back in February 2014), so it makes sense that's it's cheap now.0 -
Fitbit needs to continue to move with the market to survive. They can't just keep it like they have always done it.
Couple things they can do:
-As someone suggested they should find a way to open their platform to other devices. This is something in general that i hate. Only Apple users can do this, and Android users can do that and Fitbit users can do something else. There needs to be a way to connect to different devices.
- They need to come out with products that dont look so much like fitness trackers. The smart watches are starting to look more and more like actual watches whereas Fitbit still looks very boring and "fitness-y"<<yes I know that is not a word
- And again, they need to make sure that their products last. I can only image how much money they spend on replacing damaged products. I would much rather pay a little extra for a product that lasts.1 -
- I think the recall was a big hit to the company.
- I think the writing was on the wall when tech giants like Microsoft started coming out with multi use smart watches.
- As a trend, dedicated fitness trackers tend to be pretty niche with periods of "fad" followings.0 -
I doubt they'll disappear. If they continue to have issues, someone will buy them.
The new owner will likely support the watches for a while...0 -
Definitely a fad.....0
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I have had a fitbit for four years now. I just replaced my Charge HR with a Charge 2, two weeks ago.
I love my fitbit. It is perfect for my step based activity.
There is certainly a lot more competition in the tracker device industry than there was 4 years ago. They are bound to have a decline in sales. I will continue to use their product as I have had nothing but positive experiences with this company. Their customer service is exemplary.0 -
I really love my FitBit and I'll keep replacing it and updating it - but the stock has collapsed and apparently they are selling huge overstock on Amazon and other places now, at deep discounts.
What do people think?
They could be discounting on Overstock due to possible new devices. I read an article recently that said they were getting into the smart watch game now that they have bought Pebble's intellectual property.0 -
annaskiski wrote: »I doubt they'll disappear. If they continue to have issues, someone will buy them.
The new owner will likely support the watches for a while...
This is my guess as well.0
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