People around the world buy lots of different types of wearable computers. But not enough to outsell the Apple Watch. Photo illustration: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac
We already know that Apple sells more smartwatches than everyone else. But there are other types of wearable computers. Do companies sell enough of these other types to overtake the Apple Watch? In a word…Nope.
But the second largest wearable maker might surprise you. Especially considering how close behind Apple they are.
Rival market analysts peg Apple Watch shipments at different numbers, but the winner in the smartwatch market isn't in doubt. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple was the top wearables vendor in Q1 according to market analysis firm Canalys. A rival analyst from Asymco also placed Apple at the top, but with a higher total of devices shipped. Canalys put the number at 3.8 million. the other at just over 4 million.
Disagreements like this are possible because Apple itself doesn’t reveal how many smartwatches it sells. Still, both groups of analysts agree that Apple Watch leads the market.
Data from your Fitbit smart watch could be sent straight to your electronic medical record thanks to a collaboration between Fitbit and Google. Photo: Fitbit
Fitbit wants Google’s help to turn its fitness trackers into health monitors. The wearables maker will use Google’s cloud solutions to tie directly to users’ electronic medical records.
The real goal, of course, is to help Fitbit be more competitive with arch-rival Apple Watch.
My resolution for 2016: Less staring at spinning dots, more running. Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac
Apple has got its fitness strategy all wrong. It sees Apple Watch as a computing platform rather than a device, and so it promotes third-party apps instead of making better built-in ones of its own.
That may be a fine strategy for Macs and iPhones, but it just does not work for watches and fitness trackers. Relying on third-party fitness apps means spending far too long staring at the spinning dots of death (the Watch equivalent of a spinning beachball), when we should be working out.
Instead of offering a range of underwhelming third-party workout apps, what Apple Watch really needs is one great built-in app that integrates with popular fitness platforms like Runtastic and MapMyRun.