The $100 Flex is a masterclass in minimalistic design. Available in slate or black (additional coloured bands are sold separately,) the Flex’s diminutive capsule full of hardware is nestled away in a soft-touch silicon wristband. It’s so light that you’ll often forget you’re wearing it, and it boasts enough water resistance that you can shower or jog in the rain with it on.
FitBit's initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange today makes it the latest privately held tech startup to turn to the public markets for new funding. It is looking to raise about $500-million (U.S.), and is selling about 22 million shares, which would value the company at just under $4-billion.
Unlike some recent tech IPOS, it's cash positive with $132-million in profit on 2104 sales of $745-million. In case you haven't been paying attention to all those plastic wristbands people are wearing, the company makes fitness and activity trackers that strap to your body.
In other news, nearly 20 per cent of Apple Watch buyers are not only shelling out hundreds of dollars for the timepiece but are springing for a spare band too, giving the tech giant a profitable second dip into customers' wallets, according to data provided exclusively to Reuters.
The data from Slice Intelligence, a research firm that mines e-mail receipts, offers a rare window into the money-making potential of Apple's first brand-new product under CEO Tim Cook.
The ever-secretive company has yet to release how many units of the watch it has sold, let alone how profitable it is. Slice estimates the company has sold 2.79 million as of mid-June.
But if the band purchases are any indication, sales of the watch itself are just the beginning of Apple's profits.
- With files from Reuters
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Every day a million pieces of news fly at you. This daily Signal Boost is our attempt to give readers a morning head's up on the news that will matter to Canadians interested in media, technology and telecom.
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Shane Dingman