Fitbit has made its upcoming Versa 2 smartwatch available for pre-order and detailed its latest plan to offer a more impactful experience and compete with Apple Watch with its Fitbit Premium subscription plan. The Versa 2 includes built-in Alexa support, 5-day battery life, a new processor, and more. Meanwhile, Fitbit Premium is set to offer personalized health recommendations for diet, exercise, and sleep.
As noted by TechCrunch, Fitbit has found itself in a tough spot as Apple Watch has dominated the full-featured smartwatch segment while Chinese companies have been eating up the company’s share of the budget fitness band market. Fitbit Premium comes as a way to create recurring services revenue for the company with the pitch of giving Fitbit customers impactful, personalized health recommendations.
Fitbit Premium is priced at $10/month or $80/year and includes nine different health and fitness programs covering sleep, diet, and exercise.
Fitbit CEO, James Park, summed up the service as a “one-stop shop” for health and diet to TC.
Notably, a portion of what Fitbit is offering with its subscription are features that Apple Watch includes for free, like the custom “nudges and notifications.”.
However, one area that Apple Watch is lagging behind Fitbit is with native sleep tracking. It may be 2020 before we see the functionality built-in to Apple’s wearables.
Fitbit Premium will be arriving this fall and the company’s Versa 2 smartwatch is set to launch next month on September 15, just after Apple’s expected iPhone and Apple Watch event on September 10. The company is using an email sign-up to let users know when the subscription plan will be available.
Interesting enough, Fitbit’s CEO told TC that he sees Fitbit Premium integrating with Apple Watch in the future.
So far, there’s been no integration between Fitbit and Apple’s HealthKit. Notably, Apple sold Fitbit products in its stores before Apple Watch arrived.
Versa 2 will give users a personalized sleep score based on heart rate, restlessness, breathing, and time asleep to help “understand your sleep quality each night.”
Check out the Fitbit Versa 2 in the promo video below:
