Fitbit has confirmed that at least two more products will ship this year - Tech High School News

Fitbit has confirmed that at least two more products will ship this year

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Fitbit has confirmed that at least two more products will ship this year ,


Fitbit wants you to know: it has a bunch of new stuff coming out this year.

During the wearable-maker's second quarter earnings call today, Fitbit co-founder and CEO James Park said more than once that the company would introduce more products before the end of the year — "more new products for this holiday season than we've ever had before," Park said.

Doing some quick back-of-the-envelope math here: last year Fitbit launched three new devices, the Charge, Charge HR, and Surge activity trackers. This year, so far, it has rolled out two, Alta and Blaze. That would mean Fitbit is on target to introduce at least two more products (though "products" could mean either hardware or software) before the end of 2016.

What Park declined to give guidance on is exactly what those products will be. It has been surmised that the new Fitbits could be on the low-end or in the midrange of the Fitbit spectrum, since the company filed for trademarks around the names "Flex" and "Charge" earlier this year. But it's been over a year since Fitbit updated its Surge tracker, a more expensive Fitbit with built-in GPS, so another high-end device could be on the docket as well.

"Fitbit will have more new products for this holiday season than we’ve ever had before"

Park said that every existing product the company makes now is undergoing "substantial R&D," and that consumers should anticipate some sort of refresh to those products. He also said he's excited to launch more "interactive software."

One thing seems to be working well for Fitbit, and that's slapping the word "new" on its wearables, even if their technological advancements are incremental. The Fitbit Alta and Blaze products, which came out earlier this year, accounted for more than half of the company's Q2 revenues (although the Fitbit Charge HR is still the company's best-selling product to date).

Fitbit's gross margins took a hit on warranty charges

Overall the second quarter was a successful one for Fitbit. The company reported $587 million in revenue, compared with $400.4 million for the same quarter last year. Unit sales were up 27 percent from a year ago, with 5.7 million devices sold this quarter compared with 4.5 million from Q2 2015.

But today's earnings report wasn't all great news and visions of Fitbits in holiday stockings. The company's gross margins were reduced this quarter due to an increase in warranty charges around its legacy products — around $50 million, plus an additional $10 million for customer service. It also accounted for more than $9 million in legal expenses for its ongoing feud with Jawbone. And, the company didn't share any details around active user numbers this quarter — something that usually clues us in to whether people are actually wearing their Fitbits or just tossing them in drawers.

Still, Fitbit is feeling confident right now. So confident, in fact, that co-founders Park and Eric Friedman, who also serves as Fitbit's CTO, have vowed not to sell any stock before the end of the year.

After that is anyone's guess.