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

Fitbit Looks To New Smartwatch Models As Stock Plummets

By
Aaron Pressman
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Aaron Pressman
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 27, 2018, 1:05 PM ET

Fitbit’s share price plumbed a new all-time low on Tuesday, after the one-time king of wearable devices announced another disappointing quarter of sliding sales.

The company’s stock, which debuted in 2015 at $20 a share, hit an all-time low of $4.67 in morning trading. It closed at $4.86, down 12% on the day.

Fitbit CEO James Park had bet big on a new $300 smartwatch, dubbed the Ionic, to make up for shrinking sales of cheaper fitness trackers, but it did not attract enough customers. Now the company is racing to broaden its smartwatch line to keep up with bigger rivals like Apple and Samsung.

Instead of the Ionic, it was the year-old Charge 2 tracker, introduced to wow 2016 holiday shoppers, that topped the sales charts for Fitbit for the latest quarter. A 25% price cut on the even older smartwatch-like Fitbit Blaze, which was introduced in early 2016, also helped boost sales.

Fitbit (FIT) didn’t disclose how many Ionic watches it sold among the 5.4 million total devices it moved in the fourth quarter, down from 6.5 million a year earlier. But Park conceded that Ionic failed to meet “aggressive goals” that the company had set.

Total sales in the quarter declined 1% to $571 million, short of the $588 million that analysts had expected.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

Ionic was crushed between the more capable — and expensive — watches from Apple (AAPL) and Samsung and much cheaper models from Asian manufacturers like Huawei. Standout features like five-day battery life and familiar Fitbit step tracking weren’t enough to convince many shoppers to pay $300 when there were so few third party apps available and the sole music app was from Pandora. Competitor Garmin (GRMN) touted its wider array of apps for its Fenix 5 smartwatch as helping boost sales 16% in its outdoor segment for the fourth quarter.

Park admitted as much to analysts on Monday night. “The Ionic offering really truly wasn’t a mass appeal smartwatch, it was more of a performance product so it didn’t really have the reach that some of our competitors had in the market,” he said, explaining that a lack of apps also hurt sales. “I think that dynamic is going to change in 2018. As we mentioned before we expect to have more mass appeal offerings in the market.”

The move to broaden the Ionic line up started almost immediately. On Tuesday, Fitbit said it was partnering with sneaker brand Adidas on a special version of its smartwatch that would have an exclusive training app and new Adidas-designed watch faces. This new version goes on sale March 19 for $330. Other varieties of the Ionic will no doubt be coming soon and Park promised hundreds of developers were working on future apps.

Still, simply moving deeper into smartwatches may not be enough for Fitbit to recover its fortunes. Even with healthy overall growth in the smartwatch market, many companies have failed to keep pace. Fitbit snapped up the remains of failed pioneer Pebble in 2016. And last fall, TomTom (TMOAY) said it was dropping out. Even Google (GOOGL) is struggling, as sales of watches powered by its Android Wear software didn’t grow much in 2017.

With its sinking stock price, Fitbit may itself eventually become attractive as a takeover candidate. The company’s stock market value is down to just $1.1 billion—and that’s with cash and marketable securities of almost $700 million on its balance sheet at the end of 2017.

About the Author
By Aaron Pressman
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

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
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • 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
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

Latest in Tech

Bill Gates and Phoebe Gates attend the 2022 TIME100 Gala on June 08, 2022 in New York City.
TechBill Gates
Bill Gates identifies the biggest burden being passed on to his children after seeing his daughter harassed online 
By Eleanor PringleDecember 20, 2025
2 hours ago
AIOpenAI
OpenAI vs. Apple? Sam Altman is setting his sights on winning what could be an even higher-stakes AI battle
By Alyson ShontellDecember 20, 2025
5 hours ago
Photo of Elon Musk
TechTesla
Tesla’s chief designer accidentally smashed a $61K Cybertruck’s ‘armor glass’ window with a metal ball. Now he says it was a ‘great marketing moment’
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 20, 2025
8 hours ago
Scott Anthony
Future of WorkColleges and Universities
‘They’ll lose their humanity’: Dartmouth professor says he’s surprised just how scared his Gen Z students are of AI
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 20, 2025
9 hours ago
AIBrainstorm AI
Natasha Lyonne says AI has an ethics problem because right now it’s ‘super kosher copacetic to rob freely under the auspices of acceleration’
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezDecember 20, 2025
10 hours ago
Sam Altman looks down and to the side, frowning.
AIOpenAI
Sam Altman says he’s ‘0%’ excited to be CEO of a public company as OpenAI drops hints about an IPO: ‘In some ways I think it’d be really annoying’
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 19, 2025
1 day ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Success
The scientist who helped create AI says it’s only ‘a matter of time’ before every single job is wiped out—even safer trade jobs like plumbing
By Orianna Rosa RoyleDecember 19, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
As graduates face a ‘jobpocalypse,’ Goldman Sachs exec tells Gen Z they need to know their commercial impact 
By Preston ForeDecember 18, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
The $38 trillion national debt is to blame for over $1 trillion in annual interest payments from here on out, CRFB says
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 17, 2025
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
AI
Meta’s 28-year-old billionaire prodigy says the next Bill Gates will be a 13-year-old who is ‘vibe coding’ right now
By Eva RoytburgDecember 19, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
James Talarico says the biggest 'welfare queens' in America are 'the giant corporations that don't pay a penny in income taxes'
By Dave SmithDecember 20, 2025
11 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Sneaking unemployment rate means the U.S. economy is inching closer to a key recession indicator, says Moody’s
By Eleanor PringleDecember 19, 2025
1 day ago

© 2025 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.