Withings Buys Fitness App 8fit
Withings has bought 8fit, a fitness and nutrition-planning app. This is a key acquisition for Withings, allowing the company to build a services-based revenue stream to complement device sales, as well as building a far stronger ecosystem that should help to retain customers – and keep them engaged. The goal is to build “personalized programs” that combine data collected from the hardware, with “actionable insights that empower users to modify behavior,” according to CEO Mathiew Letombe. 8fit currently costs $80 a year.
The NPD Take:
- We have been saying for a while now that wearable manufacturers need to develop – or acquire - stronger fitness and wellness apps that will keep the customer base engaged. After all, simply owning a fitness device does not necessarily drive better activity-oriented behavior among the base, which can lead to churn.
Not a Tracker, But A Peloton HR Band
Peloton has further expanded its fitness equipment, adding a heart rate tracker band that wraps around your arm, rather than the chest. The idea is that an arm-based heart rate device is more comfortable than a chest one, while remaining just as accurate, and it works with all of Peloton’s exercise equipment. At $90 it’s significantly more expensive than a chest-based monitor, but still a drop in the ocean for the targeted customer base.
The NPD Take:
- Is it necessary in a world of smartwatches and so forth? Probably not for the masses, but perhaps yes for the Peloton customer base who take their spinning, running and so on more seriously. Having said that, Peloton has a pretty nice integration with Apple Watch already.