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Fitbit Debuts New Versa 2 Smartwatch and $10/Month 'Fitbit Premium' Service
Fitbit has announced the Fitbit Versa 2 smartwatch, with an all-new design that shares a few similarities with the Apple Watch. Accompanying the watch is "Fitbit Premium," a new health and fitness subscription service that costs $10 per month and offers guidance and coaching to reach your fitness goals.
The Versa 2 includes direct support for Amazon Alexa, which you can trigger by saying "Hey, Alexa" and then asking about the weather or any other smart assistant command phrase. There's also direct support for Spotify, as well as notifications for call, calendar, and texts from your connected smartphone.
Otherwise, the Versa 2 supports NFC payments, includes a heart rate sensor, and has water resistance up to 50 meters. The new smartwatch will support Fitbit's new Sleep Score feature, which factors in your daytime activities and sleep time to judge your overall sleep quality, as well as Smart Wake. This feature figures out the best time to wake you depending on your sleep habits.
For its subscription service, Fitbit Premium, Fitbit said it will provide a holistic view of your health that other health and fitness apps lack. This includes nine guided programs to help you get more sleep, wake up energized, increase your activity, manage nutrition, and create overall lasting healthy habits.
Programs include actionable coaching, daily tips and tricks, structured workout plans, relaxation tools, recipe suggestions, and educational content. Fitbit will launch additional activity, sleep and nutrition programs by the end of the year. The company plans to launch a one-to-one personal coaching service next year as well.
Fitbit Premium will debut in September and cost $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year. The Versa 2 is available for presale today for $199.95 and will launch on September 15.
The Versa 2 includes direct support for Amazon Alexa, which you can trigger by saying "Hey, Alexa" and then asking about the weather or any other smart assistant command phrase. There's also direct support for Spotify, as well as notifications for call, calendar, and texts from your connected smartphone.
Otherwise, the Versa 2 supports NFC payments, includes a heart rate sensor, and has water resistance up to 50 meters. The new smartwatch will support Fitbit's new Sleep Score feature, which factors in your daytime activities and sleep time to judge your overall sleep quality, as well as Smart Wake. This feature figures out the best time to wake you depending on your sleep habits.
For its subscription service, Fitbit Premium, Fitbit said it will provide a holistic view of your health that other health and fitness apps lack. This includes nine guided programs to help you get more sleep, wake up energized, increase your activity, manage nutrition, and create overall lasting healthy habits.
Programs include actionable coaching, daily tips and tricks, structured workout plans, relaxation tools, recipe suggestions, and educational content. Fitbit will launch additional activity, sleep and nutrition programs by the end of the year. The company plans to launch a one-to-one personal coaching service next year as well.
Fitbit Premium will debut in September and cost $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year. The Versa 2 is available for presale today for $199.95 and will launch on September 15.
Tag: Fitbit
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4 weeks ago
So sick of subscription services. Every company is jumping on this bandwagon to have never-ending income but not everything needs to be a subscription.
4 weeks ago
For its subscription service, Fitbit Premium, Fitbit said it will provide a holistic view of your health that other health and fitness apps lack. This includes nine guided programs to help you get more sleep, wake up energized, increase your activity, manage nutrition, and create overall lasting healthy habits.
If Fitbit convinces you to spend $10/month on a watch subscription then you need holistic help with your spending habits.
If Fitbit convinces you to spend $10/month on a watch subscription then you need holistic help with your spending habits.
4 weeks ago
Or I can continue with my Apple Watch and not pay an additional subscription.
4 weeks ago
The subscription you're getting with Fitbit is not comparable to the stuff Apple is offering
Fitbit, like Nike who has Nike Training Club at $15 a month, is offering personalised training and editorial content for those who want to take fitness more seriously
4 weeks ago
I don't see how it's an issue
It's like the News+ subscription, you're getting stuff that you'd never get for free anyway, so at least it's an option for those who want to pay
4 weeks ago
I would sooner take a $400 Apple Watch that lasts as long as I can make it rather than a Fitbit that costs $10 a month for life.
That's ridiculous. The Fitbit is not going to cost you anything per month. Only if you get the subscription service. The watch itself is half the price of an Apple Watch, has many features that are actually useful and has twice the battery life. I don't get why people on this forum are just focusing on the subscription service.
4 weeks ago
I don't see how it's an issue
It's like the News+ subscription, you're getting stuff that you'd never get for free anyway, so at least it's an option for those who want to pay
Incoming rant/unpopular opinion:
I see an issue...Look at iCloud. Apple is moving hard to up it's subscription revenue as they're stalling with new hardware. Eight years ago, Apple offered 5GB free. Now, almost a decade later, this hasn't budged. Why? They want perpetually subscription revenue.
Yes, Apple offers 50GB for $0.99/month (super cheap). But this is such a nickle & dime process (just like how they offered 16GB base storage for iPhones until a few years ago). If it's so cheap to offer 50GB for $0.99/month, why not increase standard iCloud to a tiny fraction, say 10GB (they can offset their cost by upping the iPhone price by $15 or whatever Apple pays). This would be better user-experience than the desperate notifications "Your iCloud storage is full. Pretty please upgrade to a subscription so that it will make it harder for you to jump to Andrioid" emails my mom gets weekly.
4 weeks ago
Or I can continue with my Apple Watch and not pay an additional subscription.
The subscription you're getting with Fitbit is not comparable to the stuff Apple is offeringFitbit, like Nike who has Nike Training Club at $15 a month, is offering personalised training and editorial content for those who want to take fitness more seriously
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