Fitbit To Make Its Mark In India

Fitbit, the biggest wearable band company, is finally making a pit stop in India. The San Francisco-based company will be partnering with Amazon to offer four different types of Fitbits for the people of India who want to track their fitness. The Fitbits will be available July 1 through Amazon.

The four Fitbits that will be sold in India include the Zip, Flex, Charge HR, and Surge. Prices will be between Rs 4,000 and Rs 19,900 (that’s $62.90-$314.20). The Charge HR is a new Fitbit coming to the Indian market and will offer full-time heart rate monitoring for active users, while the Surge will offer GPS.

Steve Morley, vice-president and general manager for Asia Pacific for Fitbit, said as follows.

“We are establishing an Indian entity and the first employees will be joining soon. We want to give customers a proper look and feel.”

According to the Indian Express, 72.1 million Fitbits will be shipped in 2015. So far, Fitbit has sold 20 million wearable bands in 43 different countries. Fitbit began their start in 2009, being one of the first companies to make a wearable fitness band.

Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, said as follows.

“The demand for basic wearable, those that do not run third party apps, has been absolutely astounding.”

Morley adds that Fitbit is ahead of any of their competition, mainly because they have the best compatibility with all wearable bands and how well Fitbit works with smartphones. He said that they have a competitive social element in the app, which can help increase performance.

The one issue that Fitbit may be facing is its price. Currently, a wearable band called Xiaomi is available and highly popular in India, and only cost RS 999 ($15.70).

Hugo Barra, Xiamoi’s global vice president, told Quartz as follows.

“I think that the current price points for most smart watches and fitness trackers today are unrealistic for India.”

On top of pricing issues, Fitbit will have to compete with India’s own wearable band company, Micromax, which launched its first wearable band last month. The band goes for Rs 999($15.70) but the app for the band is a hefty price of Rs 4,999 ($78.50), which can’t compete with Fitbit’s app.

In India, many companies are jumping on the Fitbit and wearable fitness band market, but can any of them compare to what Fitbit can offer? Only time will tell after Fitbit becomes available in India.

Do you have a Fitbit? How well do you like it? Does your Fitbit help you with your fitness goals?

(Photo by Eric Thayer/ Getty Images)