Fitbit Shares Slump As Blaze Smartwatch Unveiled

Wearable device leader Fitbit (NYSE:FIT) took some veiled shots at the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Watch on Tuesday at CES, as it introduced a “smart fitness watch” called the Fitbit Blaze. The watch doesn’t support notifications from third party apps say Twitter or Facebook, but there is a good scope of bringing that in future updates. The Fitbit Blaze “puts fitness first”, he said.

Beyond that, it has basic controls for music, and can show alerts for calls, texts, email, much like the Surge. According to the company, the Blaze smartwatch will be compatible with more than 200 Android, iOS, and Windows mobile devices.

Fitbit just raised the bar-er, band-with their latest device: the Fitbit Blaze.

Fitbit is known for their fitness accessories, but like many other companies, the occasionally dip their toes into other waters.

Now what: As Fitbit continues its push upmarket to compete directly with other smartwatches, it’s seeing competition intensify in the lower-end market for stand-alone fitness trackers.

The Fitbit Blaze features a rectangular watch face with Gorilla Glass covering the 240 x 180 pixel display. It was a great as a fitness tracker when working out but it wasn’t something you’d wear out to a fancy dinner. The Fitbit Blaze is already available for pre-sale and will launch worldwide in March.

Activity stats like distance, pace and minute-mile split times can be gathered using the phone’s Global Positioning System. You can also customize your Blaze watch by purchasing an additional rubber or leather band that comes in blue, black, or plum color.

The Baltimore-based group announced its UA Band created to be worn all-day, every day to track daily activity, workouts and sleep, a compact heart rate monitor which can measure workout intensity and a connected scale that enables weight and body fat percentage readings.