Fitbit: Smart, Connected Device Transforms Competition and Promotes Sustainability In the first year of its existence, FitBit sold 100.000 devices. At the time, there were countless weight loss and exercise programs, plans, and gimmicks But smart, connected wearable activity trackers were virtually nonexistent. Five years later, FitBit managed to take the title biggest selling manufacturer of wearable tech when it sold a whopping 21 million devices in 1 year. It still holds that title today Vision: Simple Approach Plus Smart Device FitBit was taunched in San Francisco, California, by Eric Friedman and James Park. These entrepreneurs took a basic approach to personal health and fitness eating right and keeping active. Their vision was to develop a smart device that would motivate users to be more active, eat a well-rounded diet and ultimately become healthier Throughout the day, FiBitlogs data about the wearer's activities, including the number of steps taken, distance travelled, calories burned, and what needs to be done to reach a personal daily goal, for example, walking 2 miles. FitBit's internal memory can store at least a week of activity data One of FitBit's competitive strengths is the app that is accessible from a smartphone. Users can sync Fitbit devices and view their online profile, activity levels and sleep patterns on dashboards that display on more than 150 mobile devices, including iOS, Android, and Windows Phone products. This compatibility maximizes the number of friends and family in each user's network to share performance stats. It also motivates and increases user retention First Class Fitness A smart wearable product that fits effortlessly into users le styles taunched an industry and made Feat a market leader in the second quarter of 2015 with 36 million units shipped in 2015 and 19.9% global market share. Thanks to the technology that enabled Fitbit and the company's growing reputation Friedman and Park are likely to be in business for a long time IT at Work Questions 1. How did FitBit manage to take the title of biggest selling manufacturer of wearable technology tech and sustain it? 2. What could other companies who produce fitness trackers challenge FitBit in the marketplace? 3. What other features do you think consumers would like FitBit to incorporate into its fitness tracker to further improve it? How would consumers and FitBit benefit from these improvements ?you think consumers would like