Fitbit CEO denies upcoming smartwatch is delayed

Fitbit chief executive and co-founder James Park shared a few more details about the company’s upcoming smartwatch on its quarterly earnings call today, and shot down reports that the new product has been delayed. 

Let’s just get this out of the way first: Fitbit still hasn’t officially announced its upcoming smartwatch, which is largely expected to ship sometime in the fall, but Park has made references to said smartwatch for months now. So, it exists. 

But according to multiple sources, Fitbit has faced some production issues — specifically around the GPS antennae and waterproofing, which it will need to get right if it’s going to compete with Apple’s Series 2 Watch, among other fitness-tracking smartwatches. 

With that out of the way: Park insisted on the company’s Q1 earnings call today, in response to an analyst’s question, that Fitbit’s “new product introductions are on track. The business is going as planned. And that’s why we are reaffirming our full-year guidance.” 

Park also said that he’s “optimistic” about entering the smartwatch category, because he believes Fitbit will offer its “own unique perspective” on it. It will focus on health and fitness, but will also have “long battery life, coupled with an amazing interactive experience, and one of the largest fitness social networks.” 

Overall Fitbit reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter of 2017, and its stock got a nice little boost in after-hours trading as a result. It sold three million Fitbits in the three months ending in March, and reported an adjusted loss of $.15 per share on revenue of $299, beating analysts’ expectations of an $.18-cent loss on revenue of around $279 million. It also reaffirmed its full-year guidance of $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion. 

Not surprisingly, Fitbit’s newer fitness trackers — the Charge 2, the Fitbit Flex 2, and the Fitbit Alta HR — accounted for 84 percent of revenue this quarter. Fitbit’s social feature “Community” is also new for this quarter, and the company said that more than 5.2 million people are using the social feed.

The article was published on : theverge