Apple vs. Fitbit vs. Garmin: the battle for your fitness (No, this isn’t a review!) | Sidebean

0:00This episode is brought to you by Skillshare, the first thousand people to use the link in the description We'll get a one month free trial of Skillshare premium Every day we hear that we should walk more or watch what we eat or work out or that we're getting fat and people are noticing on YouTube So some of us need to keep track fitness wearables exist as far back as 2003 But as more and more people go into exercise Competition has increased and when it comes to fitness smart watches three brands have made a name for themselves Apple Fitbit and Garmin have vastly different backgrounds, but they all want to be your fitness tracker So let's look at this war between these wearables in this episode of company forensics The Apple Watch takes the world by storm every new Apple product comes with detractors and the Apple Watch was no different But some of the arguments were pretty solid for example when it came out in 2015 the CEO of tag hauler Jan Claude Biver said

1:10But the future wasn't Apple's goal instead it was the present so though many were excited about this idea The launch wasn't perfect First of all, it wasn't cheap the price range from 350 to like a thousand dollars for the standard editions and Apple Watch edition was $10,000 and this of course didn't sell well Also some apps were slow and notifications Regularly failed as a result users found themselves missing messages and emails But still iOS fans loved the watch and the stats sort of proved that the first quarter of the Apple Watch's launch claimed 75% of the global smartwatch sales it set the standard for smart watches and watches in general in just five years The Apple Watch outsold the entire Swiss watchmaking industry But notice we have not mentioned fitness that's because from the start the Apple Watch didn't aim for it Apple wanted a mass market still that's not to say they lagged in that the part Right as its fitness tracking was one of the best and easiest to use

2:12Others however wanted to challenge this dominance the military brat that challenged Apple originally called pro-nav Garmin was the brainchild of Gary Burrell and Min Kow both had experienced in military electronics especially radio and avionics Burrett and Kow believed that GPS had plenty of uses outside the military So after raising four million dollars they left the respective jobs and founded pro-nav in 1986 From boating to aviation rescue and construction pro-nav mainly focused on GPS applications And as a result the company thrived in these niche markets After rebranding to Garmin a contraction of both their names founders noticed that wearables were becoming even more popular So Garmin created the forerunner in 2003 which allowed users to track their fitness aspects like heart distance and calories Yes, it was bulky and had a short battery life But it was one of the first devices aimed at athletes and thanks to top of the line GPS technology Thrive athletes and long distance runners loved the devices

3:13So sport watches were the next logical step but their goal was not only to cater to athletic needs But also to provide everyday tools like emails texting and others So Garmin launched new products every two years constantly improving and adding more features These days you can even find them with Spotify connections and Bluetooth and contactless payments So while the Apple Watch aimed at the mass market Garmin created rugs products for adventure seekers But one small company wanted to target ordinary people who loved exercise The young small but scrappy fitness company Fitbit is a classic underdog story the company was born 2007 and to convince investors founders James Park and Eric Friedman had very little to show their idea was this small device that told a user about their steps their calories and their distance But their model was really a wooden box with some circuits But they believed in their brand and that's where the brand management comes in It's not enough just having a good idea It's about taking your brand and exploring its potential And that's where Skillshare comes in Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of inspiring classes for creators

4:18You can explore new skills deep in existing passions and get lost in creativity From marketing to entrepreneurship, Skillshare has thousands of classes for every skill level So if you want to learn more about brand management You can check out brand management the course creating what sets you apart by Chris Boundman You learn the pillars of brand management in bite-sized video lessons so that you can implement a brand strategy effectively And as a brand Fitbit caught on in an early sales pitch They hoped for 50 pre-orders and ended up getting 2000 But neither of the founders had manufacturing experience so at first the company struggled to come up with an efficient manufacturing process both Friedman and Park have said that Fitbit came close to going out of business Seven times the first Fitbit was pretty right and mentory It was this clip on that you placed on your color or your pants But back then this was brand new tech and people loved it in 2009 They had 25,000 orders with more on the way two years later Fitbit included a strap and a digital clock and there was even phone connectivity But no messaging or email that's because Fitbit was obsessed with one single goal

5:20Health their heartbeat monitors were so good they even appeared in medical studies from the Mayo clinic Plus both founders loved data and the more the better Fitbit even had plans to use it as part of a diagnosis and treatment But this obsession meant that their products were too basic to be called smartwatches When the Apple Watch entered the market Fitbit didn't adapt quickly enough The company launched its smartwatch the Fitbit glaze in late 2016 that's almost two years later And there were some sales but ironically as they launched their smartwatch their fitness product sales took a hit The problem was that the place didn't come close to the Apple Watch While Apple dominated Fitbit hovered around third or fourth in sales and that's when Google comes in The giant wanted to be in this wearable war and bought Fitbit for $2.1 billion and Fitbit had some advantages like sleep tracking Which Apple introduced only in 2020 but the move proved risky The market becomes more competitive Since the Apple Watch launched it has consistently remained at the top of sales Meanwhile Garmin and Fitbit have struggled to gain ground

6:21Does that mean that Apple Watch is the best? Well, that's really up to you to tell us so what do you think the best wearable is? As you can see I've been using this Apple Watch series 0 for a long time I'm really stretching how much it can last and it's only it's already too slow to be used for most applications But like I don't feel ready to like if I want to upgrade a watch I don't feel ready to kind of move to these expensive kind of like brand watches I don't think that that's that just goes with my personality Anyway, it's not like nobody buys the other brands For example 22 was a good year for Garmin when it managed to place third in global sales Meanwhile Fitbit's best year was 2018 when it placed third in sales But despite the hype over Fitbit's new smartwatch The Versa Google's purchase didn't seem to help Fitbit They went from 13 sales in Q3 2019 to dropping out of the top five by Q1 2020 Managing to climb to fourth place in late 2020 Again, still the competition is getting more and more challenging every day First of all, giants like Samsung are still strong But also other companies are rushing to get into the market like Xiaomi, Huawei, Titan and even Fossil

7:23So let's talk controversies These are just smart watches but they're still controversial And some revolve around the very same health tracking they promote Because after all, this is your health data And are you willing to share your health data with all of these companies? In 2018, the Apple Watch first introduced an EKG feature Which sounds great but medical professionals urged users not to blindly trust the watch As average users might not understand the results This feature increased the odds of misdiagnosis And then there's Fitbit's love with data You see when Google announced the purchase The giant was also facing backlash over privacy issues So many users threw away their Fitbit as they didn't want to be part of Google's privacy issues Especially regarding health Wearables present a dilemma A study showed that 89% of users wear it all the time But as more and more companies face scrutiny regarding data Customers might not love the idea of wearing them 24-7 Also, besides privacy issues There are constant reminders to work out

8:25To walk more and to stay on top of your health And for some this may be great But for others, it might just induce anxiety And stress in the end A smart watch can be an excellent tool for those in fitness And in exercise even for productivity But it can also be another way for us to remain connected Even when we don't want to What do you think? Let us know in the comments Hope you enjoyed today's video And don't forget to hit that subscribe button We'll see you next week