Fitbit Rules The Wearable Market, About 50% of All Shipments in Q1 2014

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Fitbit, the company behind the popular line of fitness tracking devices, appears to be on top of the market for wearable devices. 

According to analyst firm Canalys, the wearable devices from Fitbit make up approximately 50 percent of all wearable bands shipped in the first quarter of 2014. The company still managed to come up on top even after they had to recall the Fitbit Force over users reporting skin irritation. 

However, the recall did not seem to impact the company’s sales. Canalys believes that this is due to Fitbit’s quick response and the manner in which they handled the issue.

Fitbit’s closest competitor in the wearable market is Jawbone. On the other hand, Nike is reportedly canceling all future FuelBand devices because of a lack of demand for their wearable fitness tracker. Daniel Matte, an analyst at Canalys, said:

“The FuelBand has frankly been outmatched on sales. Its competitors’ speed, international reach, broader channel distribution, integration with other fitness communities, superior web sites and multi-platform support have proven to be major advantages.”

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On the smartwatch side of the market, Pebble remains on top according to Canalys, beating out devices offered by Samsung and Sony. Joe Kempton, research analyst at Canalys, said:

“More sophisticated sensor technology designed specifically for wearables will be arriving soon.”

Apple is expected to release their health and fitness-focused wearable device, dubbed the “iWatch“, during the second half of this year. In just a few weeks Apple is set to take the stage at WWDC, where the company is expected to preview iOS 8 and Mac OS X 10.10.

The Fitbit Flex is available for $99.95 from Amazon.ca.

[via CNET]

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