• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down

2

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for

3

The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow

1

'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down

2

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for

3

The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
CommentaryTech

Face It, You’re Bored Of the Smartwatch You Got Last Christmas

By
Mike Feibus
Mike Feibus
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Mike Feibus
Mike Feibus
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 10, 2016, 9:00 AM ET
Courtesy Fibit
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

I’ve tested more than a dozen different fitness-tracking devices over the past couple of years, logging about 7 million steps in the process. And to what end? I have no idea.

Seriously, I don’t. I think the unrelenting barrage of steps, beats and z’s is to blame for my sagging interest in fitness wearables. I don’t want this tidal wave of data. What I want is a device that monitors the stream of data and lets me know how healthy I am. And what I can do to be healthier.

My diagnosis: wearable fatigue.

That’s difficult for me to say. You see, as an industry analyst, it’s my job to keep up with technology. More than that, I love keeping up. I’m an incurable gadget freak. My pulse quickens when I hear the squealing brakes of a Fedex truck as it pulls up to the curb. Because I know it won’t be long before I’m tearing past the shrink wrap to start evaluating another new piece of hardware.

I haven’t given up on wearables. I still wear a smartwatch. But it’s important to understand that I’m wearing it more for the watch part than the smart part. Which is the heart of the problem, if you’ll pardon the pun.

Unless you’re a professional athlete, coach or dyed-in-the-wool fitness enthusiast, I’ll bet you agree. Raise your hand if you got a shiny new fitness tracker for the holidays, and it’s already in the laundry room gathering dust alongside your Abdominizer and Shake Weight.

That’s what I thought.

Don’t feel guilty. It’s their fault, not ours.

The financial community has come to agree. Wearable fatigue hit investors hard at the start of the year. They pounded Fitbit stock (FIT) just as the company unveiled its new fitness watch, the Fitbit Blaze, in Las Vegas at CES, the massive consumer electronics showcase. The stock plummeted 59.2% from $29.76 the day before the announcement to a low of $12.15 in late February. It has yet to recover.

Pebble, another trailblazer in wearables, was forced to lay off 25% of its workforce in late March, after efforts to raise more capital fell short.

This isn’t a sign that wearables are starting to fade away. To the contrary. They’re going to get better. They’ll start to deliver the kind of smarts that the majority of consumers want. And that will spark another round of growth. Call it smart smart-wear.

Indeed, I see the current pause in market demand as a blessing in disguise, because it will motivate suppliers to hasten the transition to smart devices that actually are smart. Already, I’m starting to see signs of intelligent life emerge from the tsunami of data. A great example is the Trio Motion, a tracking device from Unitedhealthcare, which I wrote about a few weeks ago. The Trio Motion is the centerpiece of the insurance giant’s bold new initiative to pay members to act healthier. Unitedhealthcare pays up to $4 a day, or as much as $1,460 per person per year, for meeting three daily activity goals.

Even though I’m not wearing the Trio Motion now (I’ve loaned it out and haven’t gotten it back – hint!), it’s still impacting my behavior because I now understand what sort of activity executives at an insurance provider believe will keep me healthier – and save them money.

Mio Global also gets it. At CES, the Vancouver-based fitness watch supplier introduced a scoring system called Personal Activity Intelligence, or PAI. Paired with Mio Global’s wearables, PAI gives users a quick gauge for what their activity levels are doing for their heart health – and what they can do to improve it.

I’ve seen a few other developments under lock and key that give me hope that this coming holiday season might finally be the one where we’ll have some smart smart-wear to choose from. Hopefully, the smarts will be compelling enough to cure us of our wearables fatigue.

And with any luck, you’ll still be wearing yours this time next year.

Mike Feibus is principal analyst at FeibusTech, a Scottsdale, Ariz., market strategy and analysis firm focusing on mobile ecosystems and client technologies. Neither Feibus nor FeibusTech are investors of companies named in this article.

About the Author
By Mike Feibus
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Commentary

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Commentary

craig
CommentaryPharmaceutical Industry
Big pharma’s patent cliff meets a new biotech Cold War: We need to outrun China, not outlaw it
By Craig GarthwaiteJuly 24, 2026
19 hours ago
tim
Commentarysmartphones and mobile devices
NYU Stern pricing expert: There’s a hidden ‘AI tax’ hitting Apple, Dell — and your next phone
By Srikanth JagabathulaJuly 24, 2026
19 hours ago
nyse
CommentaryEconomics
AI doesn’t end scarcity. It relocates it
By François Candelon, Paul-Louis Andres and Augustin ManchonJuly 24, 2026
21 hours ago
Can Bangkok future-proof itself against the heat?
CommentaryThailand
Can Bangkok future-proof itself against the heat?
By Curtis S. Chin and Ella TanJuly 23, 2026
1 day ago
mm
CommentaryLeadership
Michael Muthukrishna: The ‘lone genius’ myth is wrong and it’s holding back your business
By Michael MuthukrishnaJuly 23, 2026
2 days ago
Paul Keary (L) and Mike Sutcliff (R).
CommentaryAI agents
Teneo & Thoughtworks CEOs: the AI race will be won with governance, not speed 
By Paul Keary and Mike SutcliffJuly 23, 2026
2 days ago

Most Popular

'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down
Economy
'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down
By Eleanor PringleJuly 24, 2026
24 hours ago
Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
Big Tech
Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
By Sydney LakeJuly 23, 2026
2 days ago
The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
Economy
The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 23, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 24, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 24, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 24, 2026
21 hours ago
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
Real Estate
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
3 days ago
Turns out Dead Internet Theory was right: AI agents are eating the Web, growing by nearly 8,000% and rewiring the Internet's business model
AI
Turns out Dead Internet Theory was right: AI agents are eating the Web, growing by nearly 8,000% and rewiring the Internet's business model
By Mia OsmonbekovJuly 23, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.