Much of the excitement and success around the IPO was fueled by the details that Fitbit shared about its operations ahead of the IPO. In a market where most players are either private or so large that their sports, fitness, and wellness operations are too small to present in quarterly results, Fitbit’s S-1 filing provided detail where little was previously publically available. Financial metrics widely noted elsewhere but there was another key metric that received less attention. The number of active users among the Fitbit customer base has continued to grow. Given as a percentage of total Fitbit devices shipped, Fitbit’s active user base grew to 88.6% by the end of 2014, up from 71.2% at the end of 2012. The company defines a paid active user as a registered Fitbit user who, within the three months prior to the period, has at minimum paired or has logged a reading into their Fitbit account. It should be note that Fitbit accounts can be used without Fitbit devices, either using smartphone sensors to collect mHealth data or through importing data from rival vendor devices; however, this is likely to be an option for only a minority of users and still speaks at least to the appeal of the company’s app. This active user metric is key, not just for Fitbit but for the mHealth industry as a whole. Perceived wisdom has suggested for a while that activity tracker devices lay unused after an initial six months use. We have noted before that while that may be the case for specific devices, it doesn’t reflect on the appeal of activity tracking itself fading. Instead, in line with many other consumer electronics markets, these devices are replaced with upgraded alternatives. When a company such as Fitbit can show that over its lifespan, active accounts continue to rise as a percentage of lifetime sales, it speaks not just to the longevity of the appeal of tracking but of the stickiness of a preferred vendor’s offering. Fitbit has benefitted from ensuring that its devices support connectivity to a host of smartphone and other operating systems across a range of platforms. Now however, those key platform partners such as Apple, Google, and Samsung are increasingly moving into Fitbit's mHealth device and / or data collection market. Fitbits active user metrics suggest it has a keen ability to hold onto its user base. As mHealth data increasingly becomes the key value for end users, it will be important for all device players to maintain a strong relationship between devices and mHealth data if they want to not only get the device sales but to have those user remain active by holding onto those customers as devices are upgraded. |
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Admin
Recent Posts
Augmented World Expo, E3, and the Future of Augmented and Virtual Reality
Jun 18, 2015 12:00:00 AM / by Admin
I have said many times in the past, that the mobile broadband network of the future will be a giant, distributed Super-Computer (a label that was shamelessly stolen, but as Picasso says: good artists copy, great artists steal!). Plug in the radios, Super-Size the system solution to telecom grade, and voila, we have the mobile broadband network of tomorrow. The network core intelligence is x86 inside, though exceptions made for high-performance core routers. With the distributed Super-Computer, operators have more choices for network architecture. Virtualize it with SDN/NFV to scale up and down, and the Web Scale business model is available to all operators regardless of size.
Dali Wireless just released a press release outlining the successful completion of a dynamic capacity allocation field trial with NCS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Telecom and a leading ICT solutions provider for governments and enterprises with a presence in more than 20 countries.
The RSA Conference 2015 was a busy one for me this year and I met up with about 30 different companies during the week. The big topics this year that I wanted to highlight flowed around automation, threat intelligence and the Internet of Things.
eSports – Does that First Letter Mean it’s Not a Sport?
Apr 27, 2015 12:00:00 AM / by Admin
ESPN or more accurately stated ESPN2 caused a mild uproar on Twitter Sunday night (April 28th) after viewers were surprised to see “Heroes of the Dorm” airing on the sports channel. Many on the opposing side called foul on the show, decrying the “athletes” lack of physical prowess – well aside from the strong dexterity of the fingers and commendable eye and hand coordination. Others, even some of those unfamiliar with a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena – in this case “Heroes of the Storm”) were oddly intrigued by the unfamiliar spectacle and some even found it hard to turn it off. Putting these differences aside, does eSports have a future among the mega sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, and MLB?
Twitter’s investment in Swirl is that has really grabbed the headlines, so I have given a quick analysis of the company and the area in general. There have been bigger investments (SK Telecom Acquiring Shopkick), while Companies like Facebook and Groupon are already testing their own iBeacons, but this is an early and important verifier of the potential in iBeacons for advertising/marketing networks, for those outside the industry.
There is something telling – symbolic, even – about ARM’s former CEO, Warren East, taking the helm at Rolls-Royce. Going from one industry to another of course isn’t exactly anything unusual in the corporate leadership circles, but still, it’s difficult not to generalise on it, just a little bit. When such an iconic manufacturing group selects an alumnus of a computing powerhouse as its new chief executive, it surely has the Internet of Things, Industrial Internet, or, say, Industry 4.0, written somewhere on it?
With HERE officially issuing a “come and get me” this week, there is a lot of speculation as to who will acquire the company. The whole thing raises a series of questions, which I am going to attempt to answer below.
The FCC passed net neutrality regulation using Title II, a strict—and more consumer-friendly—legislative option. Whether nudged in that direction after President Obama “suggested” Title II was the way to go, or the FCC arrived at the final legislature unbiased, is neither here nor there. The regulations are in the final stages of approval, and will be officially active 60 days after being published in the Federal Register. That didn’t stop the lawsuits from coming, however; while it’s likely too early to take seriously any lawsuits (the FCC has all but guaranteed they will be thrown out to be appealed at a later date), there is also plenty of time for Congress to get involved and enact their own changes.
