Fitness trackers are a broad term for the sleek, easy-to-use devices that claim to help lead people to a healthier lifestyle. They connect to simple iPhone or Android applications that collect data over time on daily activities.
Fitness trackers have been on the rise recently with the resurgence of the healthy lifestyle movement. New brands and models of these devices keep popping up in the news.
The three most popular brands of these fitness trackers are Fitbit, Nike and Jawbone, but what are these things and what’s the difference between the three brands?
Fitness trackers are a new item in technology that help people record things such as calories consumed, distance walked and hours slept. By having this data in a convenient location, people can lead healthier lives.
In addition, much of the appeal of these fitness trackers is the social aspect. People using these devices can have friendly competitions with each other over things such as distance walked. In fact, applications have been made to help connect people using fitness trackers, such as matchup.
The ideas that formed the foundation of the fitness trackers aren’t particularly new. People have been tracking the food that they eat for years and pedometers are nothing new. Fitness trackers flooded the market when new technology that allowed them to digitalize everything. The fitness tracker can accurately calculate calories consumed, calories burned and sleep patterns all in one small device and upload it to your Smartphone.
The rise of fitness trackers can also be due to the improvements on comfort and quality of the items. They started out as clunky “smartwatches” that tracked only a limited amount of data. With the fitness trackers being the pioneer of the wearable technology movement, there are obviously a lot of problems they had to work through first. One of the reasons that these devices weren’t adopted earlier when the technology was available was because they didn’t look good. Now with their more modern designs, people have begun to push forward the market of wearable technology.
However, studies have shown that these fitness trackers can’t capture the attention of Americans for too long. After only 6 months, a third of the users will have thrown away their lifestyle-tracking bracelet.
Fitbit, Nike and Jawbone fitness trackers all seek to do the same thing. They’re all small, water-resistant,and connect to your smartphone via apps. However, they do have differences between them.
The Fitbit bracelet has been criticized for its accuracy in tracking calories, but is still the most popular fitness tracker out on the market right now. The Jawbone bracelet has been praised as being the most comfortable, and the Nike FuelBand has hourly movement reminders for those who work at an office.
The fitness trackers created a new, competitive market. Smaller companies have started to compete with Fitbit, Nike and Jawbone, and Apple has another similar product, the iWatch, in the works right now.
Currently, the fitness trackers have only limited resources available to them. As the market continues to progress, new applications and items to supplement the devices will arise. New utilities will be added as each new model comes out as well.
However, fitness trackers also have a lot of unexplored potential. Information regarding health and the body rather than just fitness would be a huge step forward for these items. Being able to determine important vital signs and changes in the body’s chemicals detect early signs of disease or heart attacks.
Wearable technology is a huge, extremely competitve market right now. Even though many believe that Apple is about to take over the market with its new iWatch, these handy devices are definitely a rising player in the tech scene.
