Fitbit's Smartwatch App Strategy
When Fitbit (NYSE: FIT) purchased a smartwatch company for its developer platform, it had the final puzzle piece to build its "ultimate health and fitness smartwatch." It has attracted an active development community to make its smartwatch more attractive to users. But this fitness tracker company has a grander vision: "To make everyone in the world healthier."
In December 2016 Fitbit bought the leftovers of Pebble, and has used its software development kit (SDK) to power the newly released Ionic smartwatch. The SDK allows programmers to access all of Ionic's sensors, such as its heart rate sensor, altimeter, blood oxygen sensor, and a number of others. It can also capture user activity and display information or other images on the watch face. Tom Hudson, Fitbit's vice president of investor relations, told The Motley Fool in an email exchange that "a key part of [Fitbit's] app strategy is to utilize standard web technologies to make it easy to create applications."
The apps released on the Ionic give you an idea of the capabilities of the developer platform. In addition to basic fitness tracking apps, the watch adds Pandora (music), Starbucks (payment card), Strava (the "leading social network for millions of athletes"), and a number of others. These apps are starting to fulfill the first of two goals CEO James Park laid out when Pebble was purchased: to help make Fitbit's products more attractive to new users.
Source: Fool.com
