I've made my peace with the demise of the Microsoft Band 2. Of all the things that Microsoft killed off in 2017, that device made a meaningful impact to my life. In late 2014, I was, by my own admission a fat little nerd. I weighed 250 LBs and at 5'8 that's bordering on morbidly obese. Then in the dead of night, Microsoft said Oh, by the way. we now have a device that's like a fitness tracker and a smart watch. No fan fare, no keynote, barely a website to buy it from. The Apple watch was rumored to be in the pipeline and i guess Microsoft didn't want to release it after Apple grabbed the headlines and risk it looking like a me to device. I bought it for myself as a Christmas present. I never intended to use it as a fitness tracker. It was supposed to be an accessory for my Lumia Icon. But in 2015 i decided to do more with it than check my notifications and change the wallpaper. I took advantage to everything the Health app (now the band app) had to offer. I utilized the MSN health and fitness app. Especially it's built in calorie tracker. I rocked the Band 1 until i had lost so much weight that it just didn't fit me anymore. Then i went out and got the Band 2. between the 2 Bands i went from being around 250 LBs to around 180. I used to wear a waist 42 and right now i can slip into a 34. Achievement unlocked!
On some level I blame myself. I loved Terminator: The Sarah Connor chronicles. So it went away. Loved the Zune so it went away too. I loved the Band. And much like my love for windows phone, being the patron-ed saint of lost causes, it means not enough people love what i love and so it went away. But Microsoft were good sports about it. When my Band 2 stopped working i took it to the Microsoft store in Manhattan and they being out of stock on replacements gave me a new Fitbit Blaze.I was very skeptical of it. Here was this new this new thing that doesn't look like my Band. But I make it a point to try new things. There was little to dislike. I loved the hardware. I bought many new bands and frames. I love the social aspect of the software. About all i missed were Cortana and Messaging. Late last year when the Fitbit Blaze was released, I got it on day one.
I get why Microsoft left the wearables market. They didn't go big early enough. Fine! You can't change the past but you can affect the present and the future. So Microsoft, I need you to lean in and LEAN IN HARD to the Fitbit Ionic. Thankfully at the beginning of this year, we started seeing the Ionic at the Microsoft Stores. They have a partnership going that resulted in the above. Cortana works with Fitbit for the purpose of skills. But I'm going to need some more of Redmonds best in my Ionic. I need them to treat the Ionic the way they treat Android phones. Make them their own. I want them to make apps for the Ionic.
Microsoft makes apps and watch facs for Android wear and Apple watch. Well you (Microsoft) have a partnership with Fitbit. You (Microsoft) also know what it's like to be an underdog with little developer support (I'm part jewish and a former catholic. Guilt trips are in my blood.). Make as many of those apps available for the Fitbit Ionic. The Fitbit Ionic isn't missing much compared to Android Wear devices and the Apple Watch. No one needs a camera on a watch. The Ionic has bluetooth so there's the microphone. This year and to be more specific, VERY soon I'd like for Microsoft to announce support for OneDrive, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Wunderlist/To-Do, Yammer, Microsoft Translator, for the Fitbit Ionic.
Going even further, put together the teams that made the Outlook watch face for Android Wear and the team that created Arrow launcher for android and have them make a watch face for the Ionic. Then have them work with the teams from Bing and Torque to make a Cortana app. Android Wear and Apple watch have their own assistants. Get on the Ionic NOW with Cortana before Alexa makes her way there and to other smart watches. Another gap in the Ionic's OS is the lack of a messaging app. This is where you can drop Skype in. Bring your apps to where you by your partnership have placed many of your fans. Believe me, There's a nice long rant coming that you NEED to bring your apps to your customers across Windows. Especially since there are now over 600 million of us by your own accounting.
Like the title of this opinion piece is called: Lean in to the Fitbit Ionic. So lets Lean in shall we? You know the old MSN health and fitness app? Well you discontinued it after pulling a big piece of functionality from it. The Calorie tracker! This is after you formed a partnership with LoseIt to support the Microsoft Band. Well, ask them access to the APIs' for a new app. Combine the Health Vault insights app with the Band app and call it Insights. A health focused app that works across all fitnes trackers. Make it available for iOS, OSX, Android and a little OS you may have heard of called WINDOWS. Grow from there any have it tap into Outlook and Cortana. Make it the fitness companion app to have. Just to keep Fitbit happy, leave out any social aspects. This would also keep the Health Vault HIPPA friendly.
You own Xamarin and a lot of developers made apps for the Microsoft Band 1&2. Get those developers to bring their apps to the Ionic and get developers submitting apps to the Windows Store to do the same. This is a long shot but you also have a partnership with Spotify. Ask if you can make a Spotify app for the Ionic to showcase this. Think of this as winning back the fans you burned in 2017.
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