Fitbit’s (FIT) foray into the competitive smartwatch space a few years ago was an effort to turn the table with respect to the declining market share and share price. However, despite impressing Wall Street analysts, the Fitbit Ionic failed to compete with the likes of Apple (AAPL) watch in the market.
In a last-ditch attempt, the California-based company this month released a successor to Ionic brand, called ‘Versa,’ which is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. Versa, which is priced at $200, is $50 cheaper than Apple Series 1 and is said to be more comfortable than its predecessor.
Despite the low price, Versa boasts of a battery life of up to 4 hours and numerous other features including sleep tracking, distance tracking, heart rate monitoring and calorie count. Unlike Ionic, Versa has done away with a dedicated GPS and instead, depends on phone’s GPS. Versa’s USP is probably its newest feature that tracks female health, including ovulation and periods.
This feature will be made available to users next month onwards. Despite the successful launch of Ionic, CEO James Park had admitted that the product had failed to meet the aggressive financial goals set by the company.
Though Ionic carried many features currently present in Versa, it failed to appeal to the consumers. Fitbit is hoping to correct that part with this new launch. Separately, Fitbit is also making an effort to enter in the fast-growing healthcare space by acquiring a health startup Twine Health earlier this year