The Apple Watch, especially the Series 3, has become the go-to smartwatch. It has earned some fantastic reviews. For example, Expert Reviews gave Apple’s latest smartwatch five stars.
“The fact remains, though, that the Apple Watch Series 3 in either 4G or GPS-only guise is the best smartwatch you can buy, regardless of platform, and for most people the best all-round fitness tracker as well. If you own an iPhone and you’re looking to buy a smartwatch, it’s the only sensible option.”
But now, as CNET claims, an executive from Fitbit has come along to declare that the Apple Watch doesn’t excite people.
“I have yet to meet anyone who owns an Apple Watch who’s passionate about the product,” claims CFO Bill Zerella, adding that the Watch is stuck in a niche since it’s only really for iPhone owners.
Needless to say, some of the commenters after the article certainly didn’t disagree.
“That’s pretty pathetic coming from the leader of a company desperate to stay alive and trying to survive a disaster launch of the product that was supposed to save them,” says Mikele11111, adding that he had four Fitbit devices that broke.
“Okay gloves off, tell me why my parents have gone thru 6 fit bits in 3 years?” adds Apache55.
Twitter is also full of Fitbit bashers.
Yoo-hoo @fitbit – I had fitbits, your customer service sucks, bought #iWatch – love it. Will never recommend your product & just think, if your CS had been better… https://t.co/wQR2DgwpaJ
— Sara Conrad (@SaraCsit) March 16, 2018
So far used 3-4 different fitbit devices and everytime belt breaks right after 12 months @fitbit sucks.
— Bhushan Chirmade (@chirmadebhushan) March 15, 2018
To be fair, there was a lot of excitement six months ago when the Fitbit Ionic came out. People gave glowing coverage to the device.
“Fitbit now has a serious smartwatch, and PEOPLE’s got all the details. Unlike the Fitbit Blaze and Fitbit Surge, the company’s other fitness-focused watches, the long-awaited Fitbit Ionic is their first product to support third-party apps — putting it on the playing field with products like the Apple Watch and Garmin Forerunner.”
And Engadget‘s Cherlyn Loww claimed that the Ionic not only had the potential to turn around Fitbit’s waning business, but that the device fit around the wrist very comfortably. Unfortunately, the Fitbit Ionic didn’t turn around Fitbit’s lowering fortunes. As some in the Fitbit community message boards have claimed, the Ionic had trouble syncing with different devices.
It’s important to note that in its first two iterations, some claimed there were syncing problems with the Apple Watch. And as the Inquisitr reported last September, the Series 3 with Cellular launched with several LTE issues. Most of the people experiencing these issues were trying to activate their Watch’s LTE service through T-Mobile and AT&T.
It appears that Apple has resolved the issues with the different carriers, and most people are raving about the Series 3. Perhaps the Apple Watch is the wrong product for Fitbit to go after, and many say it makes them look hypocritical.