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Tag: Fitness Bands

  • Apple Watch Is the Only Thing Apple Wants You Wearing on Your Wrist

    Apple is clearing the way for the Apple Watch.

    According to Re/code, Apple stores across the country have begun to pull items from their shelves that could possibly compete with the Apple Watch, which is set to launch next month.

    Both the Jawbone Up band and the Nike + FuelBand are no longer carried in Apple’s retail outlets.

    There are other explanations for the bands’ disappearance apart from Apple’s calculations, but there’s no doubt that the Apple Watch has a lot to do with it. As far as the Nike FuelBand is concerned, Nike has stopped production – mostly to focus on software, including the Nike+ Fuel app for iOS (and the new Nike app you’ll see on the Apple Watch). Jawbone is currently working on its new band, so the one Apple yanked is old news by now.

    Fitbit, probably the most recognized fitness band brand, was pulled from Apple Stores a while ago due to friction over HealthKit integration. Mio’s heart monitoring band is now only available online.

    Re/code has this about Mio:

    Liz Dickinson, chief executive and founder of Mio, said Apple notified her a few months ago that the Mio would be removed from the retail stores, though the company did not cite the Apple Watch as the reason.

    “They said they brought in a new executive in the marketing area who wanted to rework branding for the stores, and to make the Apple brand more front and center and clean up and minimize the number of accessories,” Dickinson said.

    Wouldn’t want you to get distracted when you head to the nearest Apple Store for your Apple Watch try-on, now would they?

  • Jawbone UP 3.0 App Released For Android

    Jawbone UP 3.0 App Released For Android

    Jawbone, the company behind one of the most popular and well-reviewed fitness bands currently on the market, today officially launched its UP 3.0 app for the Android mobile platform.

    The UP app now syncs via bluetooth with Jawbone’s latest UP24 fitness band to track user physiology. The band and app track metrics such as user exercise, sleep, food intake, and heart rate to help motivate a healthy lifestyle. Users can also use the app to track fitness or other health goals and receive notifications through the app.

    “We believe that helping people understand the context and meaning of their data is key in helping to make sustained behavior changes,” said Travis Bogard, VP of product management and strategy at Jawbone. “Through our investment in data science we have been able to provide personalized insights to help nudge people to meet their sleep or activity goals. Now with the launch of UP24 on Android, our entire community can enjoy the benefits of these insights in real-time, with continuous feedback and in-the-moment notifications to help them achieve their goals. Android users have been incredibly active in the UP community, and we’re thrilled to bring UP24 to the Android platform.”

    With the smartphone and tablet markets already showing signs of saturation in mature markets, device manufacturers are now turning to the wearable computing market as the next large growth segment in tech. Health-related wristbands such as the Jawbone UP24 have so far been leading the product category, but smart watches such as Samsung’s Galaxy Gear are expected make headway in the market as they begin to incorporate more aspects of fitness bands, become populated with apps, and come down significantly in price. Around 90 million wearable computing devices are expected to ship during 2014.

    Image courtesy Jawbone