5 ms·

Devices in millions [2011,2014]: 0.2, 1.3, 4.5, 10.9 Revenue in millions [2011,2014[: 14.5, 76.4, 271.1, 745.4 Paid active users in millions [2011,2014]: NULL

by eroo 11y ago

Devices in millions [2011,2014]: 0.2, 1.3, 4.5, 10.9 Revenue in millions [2011,2014[: 14.5, 76.4, 271.1, 745.4 Paid active users in millions [2011,2014]: NULL, 0.6, 2.6, 6.7 I realize they sell more than just pedometers, but their core product is a 3-axis accelerometer that calculates a dubious step count w/o really actionable insights. Imagine what this can be once there start to be useful applications/more of the data.

readme 11y ago
The step count is not really dubious. The fitbit app also renders data from the pedometer in a very useful way and enables you to set goals. Fitbit is definitely useful for monitoring activity if your goal is to manage calories in/calories out and keep track of your heatlh.
mkopinsky 11y ago
Step counts are fairly accurate. From the Flex less so than their other devices, but still not too bad. Nike Fuelband is pretty bad. Pretty good figures at the link below. Case MA, Burwick HA, Volpp KG, Patel MS. Accuracy of Smartphone Applications and Wearable Devices for Tracking Physical Activity Data. JAMA. 2015;313(6):625-626. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.17841. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2108876 http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2108876
hbhakhra 11y ago
Believe me, I thought the FitBit was a stupid device when I heard about it, but then I got one for free from work. Having it on your wrist all day and tracking all your activity really did make a difference for me and for my friends that have it - to the point where I convinced friends to get the FitBit. The effectiveness of the FitBit, just by my anecdote, is that it tracks all your steps, even for little things such as walking to the bathroom, and shows you your total activity. Second, is when at the end of the day your are close to your target, its easy to convince yourself to go for a little walk to reach the target. Without tracking, you wouldn't have done that extra walk at night. I do agree with sentiments of others that the lock-in of data is pretty annoying, but the device and app work great for what they do.
- MBCook 11y ago
  > Second, is when at the end of the day your are close to your target, its easy to convince yourself to go for a little walk to reach the target. Having an external locus of control can make a huge difference for some people when it comes to exercising more or eating better. It helped for me. > ...but the device and app work great for what they do. That was NOT my experience with the app. I think it's pathetic they decided to try to be their own ecosystem instead of being part of HealthKit, but that's not their big sin. In the two or so years I used a Fitbit the app only got worse. Food logging was repeatedly changed, losing features, and getting harder and harder to use. They later changed exercise entry to make it work better for runners and harder for everything else. They took FOREVER to update from iOS 6 style interfaces to iOS 7. But the big thing, the KILLER thing, was that all my data was corrupted by a bug they knew about and refused to fix. There was an option to adjust your daily calorie goals based on activity (or something like that). Having that on used to be the default, but it caused all sorts of problems. I only found that out after noticing tons of my old data had almost exactly the same calorie count each day. Like within 10 calories. After numerous support emails (their support system was terrible) I was finally told to turn that option off. They knew it caused issues, that's why they started turning it off by default. But they didn't tell people who had it on about the issues it caused or detect if they were hitting the bug. They fixed it for new users and left older users screwed. So I have 2+ years of useless fitness data in FitBit. It doesn't matter if it can be exported for free or put in HealthKit, the data is junk. I don't remember having a single positive interaction with FitBit over support or other problems. They were at best neutral. My opinion of them went lower and lower and lower over time.
  - click170 11y ago
    To be fair, they make it nearly impossible to get your data out of their servers to do anything interesting with anyway. Which is another huge failing on their part IMO.
    - mkopinsky 11y ago
      They have a resilient, stable API. We use it for a number of clinical trials evaluating incentives for walking, and it works fairly well. Better than most of their competitors.
jkestner 11y ago
As a response to both you and epmatsw, their core product could be their store of data. That's why they're not opening up to HealthKit integration. Granted, they're making their money from hardware as part of a really polished complete experience, and the data is only a moat against customers leaving. But I'd be interested to know how they plan to leverage the data as watches and phones cut off their hardware sales. They could go more pro with sport-specific solutions, or the data could inform a next-generation leap in UI.
mahyarm 11y ago
I find the automatic sleep tracking in the charge pretty valuable. And now there is the resting heart rate tracking. Also their step tracking firmware is one of the best. The aria is also useful.

by eroo 11y ago

readme 11y ago

The step count is not really dubious. The fitbit app also renders data from the pedometer in a very useful way and enables you to set goals. Fitbit is definitely useful for monitoring activity if your goal is to manage calories in/calories out and keep track of your heatlh.

mkopinsky 11y ago

Step counts are fairly accurate. From the Flex less so than their other devices, but still not too bad. Nike Fuelband is pretty bad. Pretty good figures at the link below. Case MA, Burwick HA, Volpp KG, Patel MS. Accuracy of Smartphone Applications and Wearable Devices for Tracking Physical Activity Data. JAMA. 2015;313(6):625-626. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.17841. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2108876 http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2108876

hbhakhra 11y ago

Believe me, I thought the FitBit was a stupid device when I heard about it, but then I got one for free from work. Having it on your wrist all day and tracking all your activity really did make a difference for me and for my friends that have it - to the point where I convinced friends to get the FitBit. The effectiveness of the FitBit, just by my anecdote, is that it tracks all your steps, even for little things such as walking to the bathroom, and shows you your total activity. Second, is when at the end of the day your are close to your target, its easy to convince yourself to go for a little walk to reach the target. Without tracking, you wouldn't have done that extra walk at night. I do agree with sentiments of others that the lock-in of data is pretty annoying, but the device and app work great for what they do.

MBCook 11y ago
> Second, is when at the end of the day your are close to your target, its easy to convince yourself to go for a little walk to reach the target. Having an external locus of control can make a huge difference for some people when it comes to exercising more or eating better. It helped for me. > ...but the device and app work great for what they do. That was NOT my experience with the app. I think it's pathetic they decided to try to be their own ecosystem instead of being part of HealthKit, but that's not their big sin. In the two or so years I used a Fitbit the app only got worse. Food logging was repeatedly changed, losing features, and getting harder and harder to use. They later changed exercise entry to make it work better for runners and harder for everything else. They took FOREVER to update from iOS 6 style interfaces to iOS 7. But the big thing, the KILLER thing, was that all my data was corrupted by a bug they knew about and refused to fix. There was an option to adjust your daily calorie goals based on activity (or something like that). Having that on used to be the default, but it caused all sorts of problems. I only found that out after noticing tons of my old data had almost exactly the same calorie count each day. Like within 10 calories. After numerous support emails (their support system was terrible) I was finally told to turn that option off. They knew it caused issues, that's why they started turning it off by default. But they didn't tell people who had it on about the issues it caused or detect if they were hitting the bug. They fixed it for new users and left older users screwed. So I have 2+ years of useless fitness data in FitBit. It doesn't matter if it can be exported for free or put in HealthKit, the data is junk. I don't remember having a single positive interaction with FitBit over support or other problems. They were at best neutral. My opinion of them went lower and lower and lower over time.
- click170 11y ago
  To be fair, they make it nearly impossible to get your data out of their servers to do anything interesting with anyway. Which is another huge failing on their part IMO.
  - mkopinsky 11y ago
    They have a resilient, stable API. We use it for a number of clinical trials evaluating incentives for walking, and it works fairly well. Better than most of their competitors.

jkestner 11y ago

As a response to both you and epmatsw, their core product could be their store of data. That's why they're not opening up to HealthKit integration. Granted, they're making their money from hardware as part of a really polished complete experience, and the data is only a moat against customers leaving. But I'd be interested to know how they plan to leverage the data as watches and phones cut off their hardware sales. They could go more pro with sport-specific solutions, or the data could inform a next-generation leap in UI.

mahyarm 11y ago

I find the automatic sleep tracking in the charge pretty valuable. And now there is the resting heart rate tracking. Also their step tracking firmware is one of the best. The aria is also useful.