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Why Consumers No Longer Want Fitness Trackers

Millions of Americans have adorned themselves with glimmering Fitbits, Jawbones, Nike Fuelbands, and Misfits, Basis, Withings, and Garmin bracelets over the years. The devices have become so mainstream even Grandma has one. Perhaps the fact that Grandma is now tracking her data means that the industry is ripe for a change.

Recently though we’ve seen the popularity of wearables wane considerably. This month Mike and Albert Lee, founders of myfitnesspal announced that they would be departing from Under Armour; and we learned that Adidas is dropping their wearables division entirely.

Why? Its a fairly easy question to answer. Under Armour spent 2017 falling from grace and it’s possible their waning interest in connected fitness is due both to financial constraints as well as a series of departures of senior-level talent including Robin Thurston (MapMyRun), and Mette Lykke (Endomondo). Looking at Adidas though, they are dropping their dedicated connected fitness division in favor of a more distributed and integrated approach.

With this shift upon us, what is next wave of innovation? Let’s look at two companies.
Habit, the bay-area based company, collects genetics, vitals and metabolism of their customers; and uses their data and machine learning algorithms to deliver personal nutrition plans that align with the user’s health goals. Parsley Health is redefining primary care medicine by committing their doctors to whole-body health than to quick fixes and bonuses.

See live demos from Habit, Parsley Health, and more at Health 2.0’s WinterTech event on January 10thduring JP Morgan week.

Tickets are selling quickly so register today!

Categories: Uncategorized

1 reply »

  1. Hmm … I think this probably overstates the case

    I think the title should have been “Now that we’ve sold lots and lots of fitness trackers, nobody is really sure what to do with them. What else can we sell?”