Fitbit is targeting a new kind of customer, who probably isn't even old enough to have a gym membership!
Fitbit's new Ace is a fitness tracker aimed at kids ages eight and up. Since kids aren't likely to set fitness goals and track their progress linearly, the real customer is the parent, who may be interested in using a wearable to better measure their kids' fitness.
There are plenty of statistics to give them reason to worry. Recent federal data shows that childhood obesity in the U.S. has increased from 14% to 18.5% over the past 20 years. Globally, the obesity rate has tripled since 1975, according to the World Health Organization.
Sure, Fitbit is trying to sell more trackers, but it seems to be handling the move responsibly: child accounts must be linked to a family account created by adults, and the child has limited access to the data, if any. Obviously, if the child doesn't have a smartphone, they won't see it at all (except for counting steps on the device), and kids with their own phones will have limited access.
What kids will see are reminders to move, encouraging them to take at least 250 steps per hour (you'll be able to set a schedule so reminders don't happen when your child is at school). They'll get rewards in the form of badges for reaching steps, and they'll be able to compete with family members in future updates. But that's all they'll have access to — kids won't have access to the larger Fitbit community.
The hardware is essentially a rebadged Fitbit Alta. It's definitely kid-sized. It doesn't have a ton of sensors — step counting, sleep tracking, and "active minutes" tracking are its main features — and it doesn't have a heart rate monitor or GPS (meaning if you want to track your kid's location, this isn't the tracker you want).
The battery life is up to 5+ days and Fitbit says it's water resistant enough to withstand a swim.
Compatible with Android and iOS devices, the Fitbit Ace will be released this spring for $99.95.
