Start-up company Fitbit: Internet thinking reengineering pedometer

Charles

Just as the iphone redefined the phone, startups Fitbit is redefining the "old" pedometer with internet thinking.

Cheisen, a 28-year-old internet company in Beijing, is an out-and-out technical home. Until one months ago, the standard way for Cheisen to pass the time every afternoon was to Shing with other otaku in the department, or to brush their tweets. Now, his and his colleagues ' daily leisure activities after lunch have become a few laps down the company's downstairs.

Let these home technology otaku change the way of life is a name Fitbit one of the pedometer products. Ever since, the amount of exercise each day has become a new pastime for Cheisen and colleagues.

Since the advent of the first generation of Fitbit Tracker in the 2009, in less than 3 years, the size of the thumb in North America has set off a movement in the health of the upsurge, under its guidance, personal portable health equipment has become the new favorite of VC. The 2012 investment Report, released by Rock Tiyatien, showed that the U.S. has invested as much as $150 million trillion in personal health tools and health tracking services last year. This includes the Fitbit Company's 12 million dollar C-round financing. And from the second half of last year, Fitbit's pedometer also began to become popular in the domestic first-tier cities quietly.

Pedometer itself is not a novelty of the product, its history can be traced back to at least 30 years ago, then, Fitbit in the end is how to make pedometer this over gas products rejuvenated?

The answer is simply that, as jobs used the iphone to redefine the phone, startups Fitbit is redefining the "old" pedometer with internet thinking.

What has Fitbit changed?

Although Fitbit was a hardware startup, it was in its bones a veritable internet company.

Prior to the creation of Fitbit, the company's CEO Packer James Park and CTO Eric Fledman (Eric Friedman) had founded a Peer-to-peer photo-sharing site called Windup Labs. Fitbit is already their 2nd entrepreneurial project.

Based on the background of two founders, from the moment the company was founded in 2007, Fitbit was destined to reinvent the old product of the pedometer with the Internet's thinking.

The core idea of pedometer is to digitize motion. In its dozens of years of product evolution, traditional manufacturers have followed the development of the idea has been to make pedometer to the user movement of the measurement become more accurate. From the initial measurement of the number of steps, and then to be able to measure the travel distance and the consumption of heat, and then, it will be the scope of measurement to expand to some other activities such as running, never a manufacturer jumped out of such research and development ideas.

In fact, when Fitbit was established, the pedometer itself was a fairly mature product. For Parker and Friedman at the time, it was almost impossible to create a product that was more powerful than the industry leader Omron's pedometer. Because the lack of hardware development experience is their biggest weakness, the subsequent fact also proves this point.

From the company's establishment to the first product officially released, the middle interval of a full two years, during which Parker and Friedman have been upstream of the production link, they have to frequent travel between the United States and in Singapore and Indonesia in the generation of factories, at any time to solve the endless process problems, The date of the product release is also delayed.

However, when the first generation of Fitbit pedometer was launched in September 2009, the late-timer soon conquered the consumer. On the list of Best Buy in the United States, Fitbit's sales soon surpassed the "old-age" omron, and the results were created on the premise that the price was much higher than the traditional pedometer.

"If it's not a question of price, it will immediately eliminate the current products." "An insider who has been in the 10-year pedometer business has so judged Fitbit the spoiler.

traditional pedometer in the statistics of the user's various data, even if the glorious completion of the mission, as to the back of these data how to use, is the user's own things. In fact, traditional vendors completely ignore the value of these data.

And Fitbit is discovering this opportunity, its biggest subversion to the predecessors is to use the Internet to activate the data, and let the data contained in the energy released.

After the campaign, all the data will automatically upload to the cloud, and from last year's release of Fitbit One, you can also use Bluetooth 4.0 and the iphone and some Android devices real-time synchronization data. On Fitbit's website and client, all of these movement data will automatically generate a series of professional analysis reports, users can clearly grasp their own movement, and make adjustments in a timely manner. Within the Fitbit community, users can share and compare movement data. If you want, you can also choose to sync your sports to social networking sites and call on your friends to join in.

It is not hard to find from such a design that Fitbit's product mentality is not limited to the measurement of the user's movement data, but it actually has greater ambitions. Pedometer is only one part of its huge product system.

Last January, Fitbit looked at another "old" electronic scale. At CES in January 2012, Fitbit launched an intelligent electronic scale Fitbit Aria, which manages the weight, fat, and BMI of 8 different family members and, of course, automatically synchronizes the data to the cloud after weighing.

This is a strategic step for Fitbit.

Aria's timely appearance in the exercise and personal health of these two different dimensions of a bridge, that is, the user's daily exercise and weight changes closely linked together, this can help users better form the habit of daily exercise. For Americans who are plagued by obesity, the design looks pretty sweet. Fitbit's official figures show that the average weight loss of a Fitbit user who sets the goal of losing weight is 13 pounds.

Not only that, users can also record the daily diet through the Fitbit website or the mobile client, the website will automatically convert the food calories.

Through the monitoring of three aspects of sports, diet and health, a closed-loop structure for energy intake and output was formed, and a three-dimensional personal health management system was constructed. With such a system, Fitbit has started experimenting with value-added services. As long as 50 dollars a year to become Fitbit Senior users, you can get fitness guidance, nutrition advice and sleep counseling and other services.

Fitbit do all of this is the traditional pedometer manufacturers unimaginable, the use of Internet thinking, Fitbit from the pedometer such a humble product cut, is the past unrelated areas through to extend a huge mobile health management industry.

Find the user's pain point

Why Fitbit can be popular quickly? Of course because it found the consumer pain point.

The biggest flaw of the traditional pedometer is that it can't produce enough stickiness to catch the user.

In fact, most traditional pedometer users give up for a variety of reasons after a period of time: some are thrown into the washing machine by falling into the pockets of old clothes, and more often they lose the humble gadget. A small number of people who can stick to the end of the meter because of the lack of electricity after the battery trouble and give up.

Although the specific reasons for the loss of users are strange, but behind the most fundamental point is common, that is people's laziness. Inertia is a pedometer this kind of sports products of natural enemies, people do not exercise, there is no data generation, no data, pedometer also lost the meaning of existence. In the past and the inertia of the battle, the failure is often the pedometer side.

So, if you want to turn the tide, you must not be defeated by inertia. Fitbit used against lazy weapons is human greed.

Imagine, A has gone 9999 steps or consumed 999 calories of the user, even if he felt tired at this time, will also be sure to bite the bullet stick to go one more step, and then consume 1 kcal. This is the power of greed.

when a user uses Fitbit for a period of time, the cumulative calorie consumption on the site and the number of steps will become as difficult to give up as the bank's personal savings. Even a user in Fitbit's official online message, said that he had one time to go to work with the Fitbit pedometer, the result of a whole day is uneasy.

An average of 5117 steps a day for adult Americans to walk, according to a study by researchers at the University of Tennessee on Human kinesiology. This January, Fitbit founder Packer to TechCrunch disclosed that Fitbit users to walk more than 6000 steps per day, much higher than the average American.

Although it is hard to say that a human nature can completely overcome another human nature, but at least greed can be to some extent to contain laziness, for the hope that the user more movement of the Fitbit, this is enough.

In addition to the inherent constraints and balance of human nature, another means by which Fitbit motivate users is by socializing and sharing.

Very few people can only rely on their perseverance to continue to exercise. Take a look at the retired athletes who, without the pressure of the game and the coaching of the coaches, will be getting fatter after retirement.

So the right pressure is necessary, and the Internet's social-sharing features users bring this pressure. On Fitbit's website, friends can form a competitive atmosphere that motivates each other to move. If you don't mind disclosing your weight data, there's a stronger incentive to exercise, because no one wants outsiders to see their weight growing.

And the power of example is endless, Fitbit's official forum is littered with successes shared by people who lose weight, a recent post in which a 45-year-old female user claims to have lost 110 pounds, nearly 50 kilograms of weight, in the past year, Such experiences are certainly inspirational for users who have the same weight-loss appeal.

Combining pedometer with the internet, using the "Data + social" model to defeat the inertia of users, this is the most fundamental reason for Fitbit success.

However, in addition, some seemingly insignificant factors have inadvertently achieved the popularity of Fitbit.

As outsiders, Parker and Friedman can bring a whole new perspective to the industry. In the product design phase, it is because of the lack of hardware design experience, Parker found the industry's top industrial design company to Fitbit "tailor-made", which allows Fitbit products to sweep the traditional pedometer "old-fashioned" image, in the appearance of products become fashionable and no lack of scientific and technological sense.

This kind of micro-innovation in the eyes of traditional manufacturers may only be tricks, but for consumers, especially female consumers, but can directly hit their pain point.

The traditional pedometer rarely takes into account the use of female users when wearing a dress, and is not always able to wear a pedometer for aesthetic reasons. Fitbit's U-shaped structure allows female users to keep it out of their underwear, even as a trend among female users in the United States.

Face the challenge

Entering the 2013, Fitbit, 6, is facing some tests after the rapid development of the past two years.

When it was founded in 2007, smartphones were a rarity, and traditional handsets were limited, and Fitbit had to develop their own hardware as an entry point for data collection. However, with the popularity of smartphones over the past few years, mobile apps based on smartphones are emerging, and Runkeeper and Endomondo have converged on tens of millions of users. Fitbit's position began to get a little awkward.

"Mobile phone application accuracy is not completely unacceptable, at least 90% of the case is no problem." "Domestic movement track application of the founder of Zhang Yi told business value," In addition, with the development of hardware, mobile phone application data accuracy will become more and more high, this time peripherals will become more chicken. ”

At the moment, Fitbit most mainly by selling equipment to make money, but its pedometer can be sold for how long, this really need to play a big question mark.

whether the pedometer or electronic scale, these products themselves are not high technical content, so Fitbit not strong enough technical barriers to withstand the impact of opponents. Although the surface of the Fitbit Scenery Unlimited, but a large number of similar products have come out, including Jawbone up such a powerful enemy, as well as Striiv pedometer, LG smart activity Tracker wrist band, the basis of intelligent sports wrist watch and other Up-and-comer. By contrast, Fitbit's flex wrist Strap, released at CES this year, almost completely copied the Fitbit one of its predecessor's flagship product, only to make adjustments to the product's styling, and the obvious new ideas are lacking.

In addition, for traditional sports brands like Nike and Adidas, sports digitization is also valued by them. Another sports brand, under Amour, which has risen strongly in the US market in recent years, has been trying to develop clothing products with sports monitoring capabilities.

More importantly, manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung have targeted the untapped virgin territory of the wrist. All kinds of gossip about iwatch, because of the portable characteristics of watch-type equipment, it is very suitable for those with sports properties of the product combination. The capabilities of the future pedometer products are likely to be directly integrated into the watch products of these large manufacturers. In other words, the Fitbit currently on the survival of the pedometer is very likely to be copied off the back of the big manufacturers, although this will not happen 1:30, but from the current trend is enough to make Fitbit nervous.

For Fitbit, the transition is imminent, if insist on continue to do hardware, then a possible evolution direction is to continue the idea of aria electronic weighing, replication pedometer success model, develop more professional health peripheral equipment, such as for blood pressure, heart of portable health equipment. But for a start-up that is not strong in capital, the continuous development of new hardware, difficult indeed, Fitbit's next step is likely to be transformed to do the platform, focus on data mining, relying on their own online platform and the collection of massive user data, to create more business opportunities.

No matter how the future, Fitbit will be a pedometer such a product has been sentenced to death from the brink of death pulled back, this kind of decadent magic ability for it to win the industry's respect. From this company, we have seen the great impact of the Internet on traditional industries, and see the importance of product details innovation. The success of the Fitbit is also proof of the "Software + hardware" mode of replication, especially for some seemingly new products, perhaps some of the Internet elements injected, you can let it regain life.