Last month Fitbit unveiled its $300 Ionic smart watch based on its acquisition of Pebble, and today the company has announced the ship date for its Apple Watch competitor. Fitbit Ionic will hit stores on October 1 in plenty of time for the holidays (and just a few days before Apple Watch Nike+ Series 3). Fitbit has already been taking pre-orders for its new smart watch on its website and promises orders will ship within one week.

New features include support for Fitbit Pay (an Apple Pay competitor with limited bank and card support), a built-in GPS, automatic sleep tracking, and promised five days of battery life.

Fitbit Ionic also lets you sync local music for offline playback, although there’s no LTE for streaming music. Apple Watch Series 3 launched on Friday with built-in cellular, and Apple Music streaming is coming in October.

Fitbit is also releasing its software development kit for its new smart watch tomorrow ahead of the hardware release. The SDK will be a Developer Preview to start:

The Fitbit SDK, available tomorrow as a Developer Preview, includes the Fitbit OSDeveloper Beta Firmware for Ionic, the Fitbit Studio development environment, and resources developers need to quickly and easily build and share apps and clock faces with family, friends, or the large, global Fitbit community via the Fitbit App Gallery. In addition to the leading partner apps from Pandora, Starbucks Coffee Company, Strava and Weather, powered by AccuWeather, available on Ionic at launchⁱⁱⁱ, popular apps expected to be added to the App Gallery this Fall include adidas All Day, Flipboard, GAME GOLF, Nest and Surfline^iv along with apps and clock faces created by the developer community.

Fitbit Ionic is available to pre-order in three colors and releases October 1. Full press release below.

[9to5-press-release]

Fitbit Announces Global Availability of Highly Anticipated Fitbit Ionic, the Ultimate Health and Fitness Smartwatch, and Fitbit Flyer, Wireless Headphones Built for Fitness

Fitbit software development kit available Sept. 26 for developers to begin building for the Fitbit App Gallery

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Fitbit (NYSE: FIT), the leading global wearables brand, announced today that its latest products, Fitbit Ionic™ and FitbitFlyer™, will be available at major retailers worldwide beginning October 1. Following ongoing, extensive testing, Ionic achieves industry-leading battery life of up to 5 days.ⁱ Fitbit is also releasing its software development kit (SDK) tomorrow, enabling the 1,000+ developers who have already signed up to support the platform the ability to begin creating apps and clock faces to share with friends and family, and submit for review and availability in the Fitbit App Gallery beginning this Fall.

• Fitbit Ionic delivers advanced and innovative health and fitness features like industry-leading GPS, enhanced heart rate tracking, on-device guided workouts and automatic sleep tracking with Sleep Stages, all powered by up to 5 days battery life and cross-platform smartphone compatibility. With the smart features consumers need most, like contactless payments, on-board music, notifications, and a variety of popular apps and clock faces delivered via the Fitbit App Gallery, Ionic offers consumers a smartwatch with purpose.
• Fitbit’s first wireless headphones, Fitbit Flyer, feature a durable, sweatproof design and customizable fit with an advanced sound performance for whether it’s listening to music seamlessly from Ionic, Audio Coaching from the FitbitCoach smartphone appⁱⁱ, or staying in touch on the go.

“We defined the fitness tracker market 10 years ago and look forward to doing the same with the smartwatch category, delivering what consumers want most and have not yet seen in a smartwatch. Ionic offers up to 5 days battery life for 24/7 health tracking and insights, advanced health and fitness features, enhanced heart rate and dynamic sleep tools paired with the smart functionality consumers need on the go to stay in touch and simplify their life,” said James Park, co-founder and CEO of Fitbit. “These features, coupled with Ionic’s broad compatibility across Android, iOS and Windows platforms, means consumers around the globe never need to choose between their watch and their phone.”

The Fitbit SDK, available tomorrow as a Developer Preview, includes the Fitbit OSDeveloper Beta Firmware for Ionic, the Fitbit Studio development environment, and resources developers need to quickly and easily build and share apps and clock faces with family, friends, or the large, global Fitbit community via the Fitbit App Gallery. In addition to the leading partner apps from Pandora, Starbucks Coffee Company, Strava and Weather, powered by AccuWeather, available on Ionic at launchⁱⁱⁱ, popular apps expected to be added to the App Gallery this Fall include adidas All Day, Flipboard, GAME GOLF, Nest and Surfline^iv along with apps and clock faces created by the developer community.

Pricing and availability

Fitbit Ionic and Fitbit Flyer will be available in stores worldwide starting October 1 at global retail partners across Asia Pacific, Europe Middle East and Africa(EMEA), Latin America, and North America. Both are currently available for sale on Fitbit.com and at major online retailers.

• Fitbit Ionic will be available at North America retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Kohl’s, Macy’s, REI, Target and Verizon for $299.95. It is available in three color combinations: silver gray tracker and clasp with blue gray band, smoke gray tracker and clasp with charcoal band, or burnt orange tracker and clasp with slate blue band. Classic and Sport accessory bands are available for $29.95, and hand-crafted and perforated Horween leather bands are available for $59.95^v.
• Fitbit Flyer is available in two colors, lunar gray or nightfall blue for $129.95. It will be available at major global retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, Brookstone, Nordstrom and Target.

Additionally, Fitbit Aria 2 Wi-Fi Smart Scale, reengineered for greater accuracy, easy setup and an improved interface, is available for presale on Fitbit.com for $129.95 and will be available on Fitbit.com and at retailers worldwide beginning Fall 2017, including Amazon, Best Buy and Brookstone in North America and select retailers across EMEA and Latin America as well as Australia, New Zealand and Singaporewith broader availability in Asia Pacific in 2018.

The new Fitbit Coach personal training app, featuring more than 90 video and audio workouts, will be available on Android, iOS, and Windows devices in October 2017with introductory pricing of $7.99 per month or $39.99 per year. The first Guided Health Programs will be available in 2018 in the “Coach” section of the Fitbit app.^vi

About Fitbit, Inc. (NYSE: FIT)

Fitbit helps people lead healthier, more active lives by empowering them with data, inspiration and guidance to reach their goals. As the leading global wearables brand, Fitbit designs products and experiences that track and provide motivation for everyday health and fitness. Fitbit’s diverse line of innovative and popular products includes Fitbit Surge®, Fitbit Blaze®, Fitbit Charge 2®, Alta HR™, Alta®, FitbitFlex 2®, Fitbit One® and Fitbit Zip® activity trackers, as well as the Fitbit Ionic™smartwatch, Fitbit Flyer™ wireless headphones and Fitbit Aria® and Fitbit Aria 2™Wi-Fi Smart Scales. Fitbit products are carried in 55,000 retail stores across 65 countries around the globe. Powered by one of the world’s largest social fitness networks and databases of health and fitness data, the Fitbit platform delivers personalized experiences, insights and guidance through leading software and interactive tools, including the Fitbit and Fitbit Coach apps, Guided Health Programs, and the Fitbit OS for smartwatches. Fitbit Health Solutions develops health and wellness solutions designed to help increase engagement, improve health outcomes, and drive a positive return for employers, health plans and health systems.

Fitbit and the Fitbit logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fitbit, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Additional Fitbit trademarks can be found at www.fitbit.com/legal/trademark-list. Third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that involve risks and uncertainties including, among other things, statements regarding the future retail availability of Fitbit Ionic, Fitbit Flyer and Fitbit Aria 2 Wi-Fi Smart Scale, including any device accessories, as well as the future availability of the Fitbit app software development kit, Fitbit Studio, Fitbit App Gallery and available apps, Fitbit Coach, Guided Health Programs, and other product features described in this release. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual results due to a variety of factors, including the effects of the highly competitive market in which we operate, including competition from much larger technology companies; any inability to successfully develop and introduce new products, features, and services or enhance existing products and services; product liability issues, security breaches or other defects; and other factors discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in our most recent report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements contained herein are based on information available to us as of the date hereof and we do not assume any obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events.

ⁱ Battery life varies with use and other factors. Up to 10 hours using GPS or playing music.

ⁱⁱ Fitbit Coach app and Audio Coaching sessions in the app will be available in October 2017. Audio Coaching sessions on Fitbit Ionic will be available in 2018.

ⁱⁱⁱ Pandora app requires Pandora Plus or Premium subscription, available in the U.S. only. Starbucks app is available in North America only.

^iv adidas all Day app will be available in U.S. only; Nest app will be available in Australia, EMEA and U.S. only; and Flipboard, GAME GOLF and Surfline available globally.

^v Leather accessories are made of Horween leather and other leather materials.

^vi Fitbit Coach video workouts will be available in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish this fall. Audio Coaching workouts will be available in English in the Fitbit Coach app this fall, with French and German languages coming soon. Guided Health Programs will be available in 2018 in English in the Fitbit app.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170925005450/en/

Source: Fitbit, Inc.

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