Under Armour Acquires MyFitness Pal – More Wearables Coming?
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Wearables.com
When asked about wearable technology, Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank put it simply: “I think wearables are something where, the one thing that’s certain, is that from estimates in 2009 there were a billion connected thing in the world. The estimates are–somewhere by 2020–there will be 25 to 50 billion things. So, effectively, everything is going to have a chip in it. And so your wearable device won’t be this hard thing on your wrist or in your pocket; it’ll be a part of you.”
It’s possible that Under Armour is taking the steps to step up its initiatives in the wearables race thanks to a recent acquisition. The Baltimore-based fitness apparel corporation recently bought the fitness and health community app MyFitnessPal for $475 million.
MyFitnessPal took to its blog to announce the Under Armour acquisition.
Source: MyFitnessPal.
MyFitnessPal is a calorie and fitness tracker used by about 45 million people. The app connects to Fitbit, Jawbone, and Garmin activity trackers, giving users the chance to count their steps towards calories burnt. The purchase of MyFitnessPal comes after the acquisitions of MapMyFitness and Endomondo. This gives Under Armour the “biggest digital health and fitness community” in the world, in terms of user base.
In addition to the fitness network, Under Armour has a collaboration with HTC in the works. With HTC, a Android and Windows smartphone manufacturer, Under Armour plans to release an activity tracker at MWC 2015. The two companies have already released their multiplatform app called UA Record.
This further expansion into fitness-minded wearables and digital health platforms puts Under Armour in even further direct competition with Nike’s Nike+ platform. With the relatively unsuccessful Armour39 tracker up against the Nike Fuelband back in 2013, it seems Under Armour is looking for redemption, and they just might get it.
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Tags: Apps, Bands, Health+Fitness
