Google’s upcoming screenless Fitbit band could also be nearer to launch than first thought. Newly surfaced footage exhibits Steph Curry carrying the unreleased machine way back to ten weeks in the past, suggesting Google has had it on a high-profile wrist properly earlier than the current teaser drew wider consideration.
This means this was not a last-minute teaser put collectively for publicity, however one thing that has been in use behind the scenes for some time. For anybody following the story, it makes the opportunity of an official announcement within the close to future really feel far more real looking.
The timeline now appears to be like extra attention-grabbing
When the more moderen teaser first appeared, the massive speaking level was the machine itself. A material-style wrist band with no seen show, worn by Steph Curry, instantly pushed the dialog towards a potential Fitbit transfer into the screenless restoration tracker class.
However we dug round his instagram account and located pictures of the machine in different movies and posts. For instance, this older March 6 footage adjustments the angle barely. The screenshots clearly present the identical model of band on Curry’s wrist, with the now acquainted mild gray centre part and orange accents.
For a tool that seems near last {hardware}, that form of prolonged public use usually factors to a product that’s transferring by means of the ultimate levels earlier than launch. Firms recurrently place near-finished wearables with athletes, ambassadors and creators properly forward of an announcement, partly to construct familiarity and partly to check real-world utilization.
And the way about this from 10 weeks in the past.
And there are extra pictures.
What makes this particularly notable is that the design appears to be like constant throughout all these sightings. There don’t look like seen adjustments between the sooner footage and the newer teaser, which might counsel the {hardware} is locked in.
Curiously sufficient, some pictures counsel that the monitoring half could also be on the within of the wrist. There isn’t any seen bump that we might spot on the highest of the wrist – solely the band.
A transparent transfer towards the Whoop class
The larger story stays what this machine is attempting to be.
Every little thing concerning the kind issue factors towards a passive well being and restoration wearable relatively than a conventional smartwatch or health band. There isn’t any seen display screen, no apparent notification interface and no signal that that is meant to switch one thing just like the Fitbit Cost.
As a substitute, this appears to be like a lot nearer to the class presently dominated by Whoop and, more and more, different screenless trackers targeted on sleep, restoration, readiness and long-term wellness tendencies.
That might make numerous sense for Google proper now. Fitbit’s smartwatch id has grow to be more and more tied to the Pixel Watch line, so a devoted screenless band might give the model a brand new lane to develop into, significantly round subscription-led well being insights.
If Curry has been carrying this for the previous two months, the machine could already be within the last levels of launch prep. That would imply an announcement within the coming weeks, probably tied to a broader Fitbit or Pixel occasion window.
This text initially appeared on Devices & Wearables, the primary media outlet to report the story.
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