It’s good news and bad news for Fitbit: they’ve released a new, cheapest ever, fitness tracker, but it will only be available to you if you work for certain businesses. This cheap Fitbit tracker is meant for the corporate world with a goal of keeping insurance costs down.
Cheapest Fitbit ever
Fitbit’s cheapest device will be the Inspire, but you won’t be able to buy it at the store, Amazon, etc. It will only be available to corporate employees who have health insurance.
The Inspire will be available as a wristband but will also have an option of being used as a clip. It works much like any other fitness tracker, with tracking of activities, sleep, and calorie burn and alerts that work along with a connected phone. An upgraded model includes heart rate tracking, GPS, and deeper sleep analytics.
Fitbit CEO James Park points to the 6.8 million users of wellness programs that include Fitbit devices, provided by employers, health plans, or hospital programs. With insurance and Medicare Advantage plans already supplying Fitbit devices as a benefit, the company’s goal is to grow that company involvement even more.
It’s a good business move on the part of Fitbit, as it helps them stand out in what has become a crowded marketplace of wearables. Their biggest competitor is the Apple Watch, specifically since it has increased its usage as a health aide.
Healthy Benefits
Fitbits are already cheaper than Apple Watches, topping out around $300 and the cheapest coming just over $50. The newest model of Apple Watch, however, is offered for $400. However, there are other companies that offer fitness trackers even cheaper than Fitbit, but if you want name brand and cheap, Fitbit is the clear advantage here, and if your boss is going to provide you with one to help keep his insurance costs down, that’s even better.
Smart employers would do themselves well to subscribe into the plan of providing employees with Fitbit. It could be a costly undertaking, depending on your number of employees, but along with the insurance benefit it would keep workers healthier, allowing them to be at work more often.
Do you own a fitness tracker? If not, would you wear one if it was provided by your employer? Let us know in the comments section below how you feel about the cheapest Fitbit ever being aimed at corporate use instead of consumer use.
Get the best of IoT Tech Trends delivered right to your inbox!
