Amazon forays into crowded fitness tracker market to take on rivals

• Amazon positions Halo as a comprehensive digital health service that leverages both your phone and its accompanying wristband.
• The battery lasts up to seven days and fully charges in under 90 minutes.

Bengaluru: Amazon has forayed into the crowded wearable space to take on rivals with – Amazon Halo – comprising a fitness band with no screen and a subscription-based app.

The $100 water-resistant band, covered in fabric or silicone, is being sold on its ecommerce website for $64.99. The Amazon Halo app is available on iOS and Android.

 The membership includes body composition (measure body fat percentage, a better indicator of health than weight or BMI alone), tone of voice analysis (analyse qualities of your voice like energy and positivity to help strengthen communication), sleep (analyse patterns like how often you wake up during the night) and activity tracking (track the intensity and duration of your movement plus sedentary time), and more — free for six months and can be auto renewed at $3.99/month + tax.

If Halo membership is not renewed, non-members retain access to basic sleep time, heart rate, and step tracking.

 “Despite the rise in digital health services and devices over the last decade, we have not seen a corresponding improvement in population health in the US. We are using Amazon’s deep expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning to offer customers a new way to discover, adopt, and maintain personalized wellness habits,” said Dr. Maulik Majmudar, Principal Medical Officer, Amazon Halo.

He said that health is much more than just the number of steps you take in a day or how many hours you sleep and it  combines the latest medical science, highly accurate data via the Halo Band sensors, and artificial intelligence to offer a more comprehensive approach to improving your health and wellness.

Rather than focusing on the device itself, Amazon is positioning Halo as a comprehensive digital health service that leverages both your phone and its accompanying wristband.

Amazon Halo Labs are science-backed challenges, experiments, and workouts that allow customers to discover what works best for them specifically, so they can build healthier habits.

Customers can choose from labs created by Amazon Halo experts, as well as brands and personalities they already know, including 8fit, Aaptiv, American Heart Association, Exhale On Demand, Harvard Health Publishing, Headspace, Julian Treasure, Lifesum, Mayo Clinic, Openfit, Orangetheory Fitness, P.volve, Russell Wilson, Relax Melodies, SWEAT, and WW.

Additional content from more providers will be added to Labs regularly.

Promoting healthier lifestyle

The small sensor capsule delivers highly accurate data, and includes an accelerometer, a temperature sensor, a heart rate monitor, two microphones, an LED indicator light, and a button to turn the microphones on or off, among other functions.

The battery lasts up to seven days and fully charges in under 90 minutes.

Unlike the Apple Watch and other devices, Amazon’s Halo hasn’t received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for any of its functions. It doesn’t count as a medical device.

Earlier this week, Fitbit launched a new $330 smartwatch called the “Sense” that includes a temperature sensor, an electrocardiogram app and an electrodermal activity sensor to detect the body’s response to stress. In September, Apple is expected to unveil a new version of its Watch with more health bells and whistles.

“The American Heart Association is excited about technology that focuses on new and interesting ways for people to improve their cardiovascular health, quality of life, and healthy life years. We’re thrilled to see companies like Amazon innovating in this space,” said Eduardo Sanchez, M.D., MPH, Chief Medical Officer for Prevention, American Heart Association.

“The Association is committed to helping people live longer, healthier lives—both physically and mentally. The first step is to know your current status, and features like body composition are important advances. Through our Center for Health Technology and Innovation, we are pleased to provide our evidence-based science as part of this solution, which we believe has the potential to drive behaviour change towards healthier lives.”

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