Fitbit has sold almost 30M devices total, added nearly 180 employees in Q3

By Brian Dolan
09:19 am
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Fitbit Surge and Charge HRBased on its recently revealed third quarter results, Fitbit continues to grow on nearly all fronts. The company also told investors that it believes that launch of the Apple Watch has had no material effect on Fitbit's business to date:

"So, in terms of Apple: We haven't seen any material impact on our results," Fitbit Chairman and CEO James Park told investors during the company's quarterly call. "You can see that we’ve had a pretty excellent quarter, and that continues to reinforce our belief that the Apple Watch and the Fitbit line of products are catering to two very different segments of the market and that our product line is really differentiated by several key things: Not only on price point, but the broad range of products that we have across different price points, different form factors, styles, or the cost platform compatibility... I think all those things are placed together. We strongly continue to feel that the Apple Watch and Fitbit are targeting two very different consumers."

Fitbit sold 4.8 million devices and generated $409 million in revenue during its third quarter. The $409 million figure also marks year-over-year increase of 168 percent for revenues. The US market accounted for 66 percent of its revenue during the quarter and its newest devices, but "dramatic" increase in revenues from international sales helped the company post a banner quarter. The company now expects to generate between $620 million and $650 million in revenue during the fourth quarter of the year, which is its biggest because of the holidays. It now expects to generate upwards of $1.8 billion in revenue this year. 

At the close of the third quarter, Fitbit was bearing down on 30 million fitness tracking devices sold in total since it first launched its device in 2009. During its quarterly conference call, Fitbit pointed to Macy's as a relatively new (August) and important channel for the company. More than 600 Macy's stores now stock Fitbit devices. Fitbit also began selling its wares in India during the quarter and is now actively marketing in 55 countries around the world. It has 48,000 points-of-presence in brick-and-mortar or online retail stores. The company is also working on product placements and integrations with popular TV shows like The Amazing Race and The Walking Dead.

Following the addition of support for Windows 10 devices, the company's main Fitbit app is available on more than 200 different smartphones.

The company also now has 905 employees, which means it added close to 180 during the third quarter alone. Fitbit has also made an effort to bulk up its research and development teams, which now count 461 employees up from 173 at this time last year: "Hardware is certainly an important piece of the puzzle. We're doing many interesting things, and, in fact, I'm very excited about the new products in our pipeline that will debut next year," Fitbit CEO and Chairman James Park told investors on the call.

"Our strategy is -- [and this] ties into the mission of the company -- really to address people's health goals and a variety of different health verticals whether its activity exercise, nutrition, sleep, stress management, and well being," Park said. "So, you can envision that our product roadmap really encompasses a variety of hardware and software in each of those health vertical areas. That will include -- possibly -- refreshes of existing products in the market today, and expansion into new areas."

 

Park highlighted Fitbit's recently announced partnership with popular cycling tracking app, Strava. Later in the call he also noted, without naming any name, that while Fitbit has evaluated many potential acquisitions it is taking its time. The cycling-focused app maker Strava, however, seems like a natural acquisition for the company.

Another recent partner highlighted by Fitbit was Thermos. Thermos unveiled a smartphone-connected water bottle lid that tracks water consumption and sends the data to the Fitbit app and its own Thermos Smart Lid app. The device will be sold on Amazon and at Target stores and the packaging will include a new "Works with Fitbit" logo that the company is rolling out for hardware partners.

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