Sleep disorders are an opportunity for connected health devices, said a Parks Associates report Friday, before the Sleep Technology Summit that's part of the Health 2.0 Fall Conference in Santa Clara through Wednesday. A quarter of U.S. consumers with sleep disorders are interested in getting more information on new connected health devices that could help manage their condition, it said. Parks research shows 13 percent of U.S. broadband households report someone having some sort of sleep disorder, and on average, U.S. consumers get sufficient sleep -- at least seven hours -- only six out of every 10 days, Parks says. More than one-third of consumers acknowledge a need to better manage their sleep, and more than 40 percent of those with a sleep disorder are interested in receiving information about better daily routines, it said.
Built-in heart rate monitors are driving growth in the activity tracker category, said a Thursday NPD report. The overall tracker market was up by 11 million devices in Q2 vs. the year-ago quarter, and the number of owned activity trackers with heart rate monitors grew to 44 percent of the category compared with 12 percent in Q2 2015, it said. Heart rate monitors are now the “must-have feature” in high-end and mid-tier activity trackers, and on-device GPS is also beginning to grow. But activity tracker owners can access GPS by tethering their devices to their smartphone, NPD said, lessening the need for the technology on the tracker itself. That could change as a result of the recently launched Apple Watch Series 2, which will likely spur activity among tracker and smartwatch vendors to include the feature in more models over the next year, NPD said.
Fitbit and Garmin were the big winners, Apple the clear loser, in Q2 shipments of wearable devices, IDC said in a Tuesday “tracker” report. Global wearables shipments jumped 26.1 percent in Q2 to 22.5 million units, despite a 56.7 percent decline in Apple Watch unit volume, IDC said. Two sectors within the wearables category “traveled at different speeds and directions” during Q2, it said. Shipments of “basic” wearables, which IDC defines as devices that don’t support third-party applications, grew 48.8 percent in the quarter from a year earlier, while “smart” wearables, defined as devices that do support third-party apps, declined 27.2 percent, IDC said. Most fitness trackers fall into the basic wearables sector, and they have benefited from “a clear value proposition for end-users, an abundant selection of devices from multiple vendors, and affordable price points," IDC said. But smart wearables “are still struggling to find their place in the market," it said. "There is plenty of curiosity” about what smartwatches can do, “but they have yet to convince users that they are a must-have item,” it said. “The good news is that smart wearables are still in their initial stages and vendors are slowly making strides to improve them. But this also means that it will be a slow transition from basic wearables to smart wearables." Fitbit’s “dominance” in fitness trackers remained “unchallenged” in Q2, IDC said. Its shipments in the quarter jumped 28.7 percent to 5.7 million units, giving it a 25.4 percent leadership market share, 11.4 percentage points better than Xiaomi, its closest competitor, it said. Garmin shipped 1.6 million devices in the quarter, a 106.7 percent increase from Q2 a year earlier, putting it into a virtual tie with Apple with a 6.9 percent market share, IDC said. “Garmin's vertical integration and constant expansion of the ConnectIQ app store have allowed the company to slowly expand its channel presence and gain consumer mindshare.” As for Apple’s woes, shipments of the Apple Watch declined 56.7 percent in Q2, mainly because Apple let the quarter lapse without debuting a new model on the anniversary of its first-generation Apple Watch, IDC said.
French software company Oberthur Technologies launched the Flybuy series of wearables with mobile payment capability, it said in a Tuesday news release. The Flybuy Mini Fob is a SIM-size contactless card with an antenna that can be inserted into a silicone or leather wristband, key chain or accessories for fitness trackers or watches, said the company. The Flybuy Secure Element, for OEMs, is designed to be embedded into smartwatches or fitness bands at the manufacturing stage. A Flybuy wearable can be a companion to an existing payment card or a stand-alone prepaid option, said OT. The cards also can be used for public transportation and access to corporate premises, fitness centers or music and sports events, said the company.
Verizon is offering for preorder the latest versions of Fitbit, the carrier said in a news release. The Fitbit Charge 2 and Flex 2 can be preordered online for $149.99 and $99.99 respectively, the telecom company said. The Charge 2 is a smartwatch that includes “a plethora of features to make fitness tracking simple while maximizing workouts,” the carrier said. “SmartTrack technology automatically recognizes certain exercises, such as running and biking, and records them for you in the Fitbit app.” The device also connects to a phone for mapping routes and tracking stats like pace and distance traveled. The Flex 2 is an ultra-slim fitness wearable that records “all day activity tracking for steps, distance, calories, burned, active minutes, and hourly activity,” Verizon said.
Fitbit expanded its wearables lineup with the introduction of the Fitbit Charge 2 and Fitbit Flex 2 wristbands, it said in a news release. Presales began Monday, with retail availability given as within one week for the Charge 2 and late September for the Flex 2. Version 2 of the Fitbit Charge adds health and fitness tools, smart notifications, a larger display and interchangeable bands, said the company. Users can get a snapshot of their cardio fitness based on estimated VO2 Max (measurement of a body’s ability to consume oxygen). Prices start at $149. The Flex 2 ($99), “swim-proof” and 30 percent smaller than the original Flex, has a removable tracker that users can accessorize with bands, bangles and pendants, it said. Fitbit signed partnerships with designers Public School, Tory Burch and Vera Wang for the Flex 2. Retailers include Amazon.com, Best Buy, Brookstone, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Nordstrom, REI, Target and Verizon. In its Blaze smartwatch line, Fitbit announced new features that will be available via a September software update: extended smartphone notifications, reminders to move and five additional clock faces. For the Alta tracker and Blaze, Fitbit will offer accessory options from Public School, Tory Burch and Vera Wang, and it will release a special edition gold version for both devices (Alta, $149; Blaze, $229). Fitbit also announced Fitbit Adventures, a series of noncompetitive activity challenges tied to landmarks, trails and events such as Yosemite National Park and the New York City Marathon available via a free app for use on Android, iOS or Windows devices.
Voxx will exclusively distribute the Striiv line of fitness and activity trackers in North America and Europe under a “strategic partnership” with the Redwood City, California, wearables supplier, the companies said in a Monday announcement. The agreement marks Voxx’s entry into the wearables space, estimated to be worth $34 billion globally by 2020, the announcement said. Striiv wearables, priced under $100, have sold through Striiv’s online store and through Amazon and Best Buy.
The Future for Privacy Forum released guidelines to help companies that develop wearable devices and wellness apps follow "practical" privacy safeguards. In a Wednesday news release, FPF, which developed the guidance with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said companies need to incorporate the Fair Information Practice Principles -- a set of eight principles rooted in the 1974 Privacy Act -- to protect consumer-generated health and wellness data. FPF generally recommended companies provide consumers with choices about data sharing and usage, support interoperability with global privacy frameworks and app platform standards and "elevate data norms" for scientific research, privacy and security. The best practices guide was released in conjunction with a FPF mobile apps survey. It said 70 percent of the top health and fitness apps have a privacy policy, about 6 percent lower than top apps overall. Sixty-one percent of health and fitness apps are linked to the privacy policy from the app store listing page, about 10 percent lower than the top apps overall. In May, the Center for Democracy and Technology and Fitbit released a report that also outlined privacy best practices for the industry, which is expected to get even more guidance (see 1606100029 and 1606200027).
Philips announced global availability of a wearables line along with the first in a series of personal health apps designed to give consumers more control over their health, in a Monday news release. The health watch ($249) measures heart rate, activity and sleep patterns; the upper arm blood pressure monitor ($99) and wrist blood pressure monitor ($89) measure systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate; the body analysis scale ($99) measures weight and body fat and calculates body mass index; and the ear thermometer ($59) measures body temperature in two seconds, said Philips. The health devices are available from Philips’ website or via Amazon, and the app is available for Android and iOS devices, said the company.
The IoT and 5G will transform healthcare, said Bob Rogers, Google chief data scientist-big data solutions, in a Friday blog post. “As 5G becomes available, a much wider array of devices [will] be able to communicate, and even the smallest devices will be able to do so while at the same time performing powerful computations thanks to a connection to the cloud,” Rogers wrote. Healthcare will benefit, he said. “We can expect a new generation [of] wearables for tracking heart health and fitness, diagnostics for proactive patient care, powerful data analytics and more,” he said. “Just imagine a world where a patient’s condition can be assessed and treatment can be administered via wearable devices.” A patient’s data can be sent to a doctor anywhere, “who can then administer the treatment a patient needs -- and even deliver a medication through the device itself,” Rogers said. “It’s not far off.”