It seems an age since they launched at last year’s TechCrunch50 event but finally Fitbit are almost ready to release their personal online fitness tracking service to the public.
For $99, Fitbit will sell you an electronic tracker that you keep with you at all times. The tracker keeps a record of everything from the calories you’ve burned and the steps taken through to the number of times you woke up in the night.
The data is then uploaded over wifi to the Fitbit website which tracks your health via graphs that can be shared with friends if you choose. The data can be used to help you track your eating, weight or physical activity.
Fitbit is one of a number of activity tracking products currently on the market. Nike + , Nokia Sports Tracker and the Nintendo DS software Walk With Me all do a similar thing. Fitbit certainly seems to be the most ambitious so far though, none of the others go as far as to track you during your sleep. Fitbit is designed to be a truly 24-hour product.
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Keen to get your hands on one? Fitbit will be shipping from the 27th of July in the USA. Unfortunately, those of us outside the States will have to wait a while before we can get in on the action. Getting the tracking device licensed for use on the airwaves in different countries is the stumbling block that gets the blame, although the company hopes to launch internationally within a few months.
Let’s hope this doesn’t turn into another Amazon Kindle-style situation where non-Yanks have to wait… and wait… to try some fun new tech.
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