Fitbit steps into Malaysia

This post was originally published on the Fitbit press site. It has been adapted from its original format.

Fitbit, the leader in the connected health and fitness market, today announced it is launching in Malaysia, with the availability of its full line of top-selling activity and sleep-tracking products (Fitbit Surge, Fitbit Charge HR, Fitbit Charge, Fitbit Flex, Fitbit One, Fitbit Zip and Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale). The Fitbit platform empowers people with information, offering a fun and engaging experience, providing insights and guidance for users to get the most out of their devices and help them reach their health and fitness goals.

Helping People of Malaysia Be Healthier, More Active

Individuals are increasingly focused on health and fitness and turning to technology to help them reach their goals as a result of multiple factors, including changing consumer lifestyles and demographics, and rising healthcare costs. According to the World Health Organization, most of the world's population live in countries where overweight and obesity kill more people than the underweight. The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended – increase intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat; and an increase in physical inactivity due to sedentary lifestyles. That said, obesity is preventable with better dietary management and regular physical activity.

“With a growing focus on personal health, fitness and wellbeing across Malaysia, and the strong demand for mobile devices and technology in the market, Fitbit is thrilled to provide consumers in Malaysia with our full line of trackers—at affordable prices across all mobile platforms—ensuring that everyone can find the right fit for their lifestyle and their goals,” said James Park, CEO and Co-Founder of Fitbit. “Our mission has always been to deliver innovation through exceptional, wearable design in a way that empowers consumers with greater knowledge of their overall health, while understanding that everyone’s approach to health and fitness is different.”

Diverse Product Family to Reach Any Health & Fitness Goal

Fitbit understands there is no “one size fits all” option in fitness, as consumers have a wide-range of needs and preferences – from people interested in improving their health through everyday activities like walking to work, to more active consumers looking to maximize their fitness. The Fitbit platform combines connected health and fitness devices with software and services, including an online dashboard and mobile apps, data analytics, motivational and social tools, personalized insights, and virtual coaching through customized fitness plans and interactive workouts. The platform helps people become more active, exercise more, sleep better, eat smarter, and manage their weight. Fitbit offers variety within its family of health and fitness products that motivate consumers to stay active, live better and reach their goals.

Starting with the latest products announced in the Fitbit family of trackers, Fitbit Charge, Fitbit Charge HR and Fitbit Surge are designed to take users from the Fitbit tracker for Everyday they already know, to the Fitbit tracker for Active and Performance:

• Fitbit Charge: A high-performance activity and sleep wristband that delivers all-day activity tracking, real-time fitness stats and Caller ID right on the wrist for people who want to step up their everyday activities to improve their overall health
  • Bright OLED screen displays all day stats including steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned, floors climbed, and the time
  • Exercise Mode records workouts with the press of a button and provides real-time exercise stats on the display, as well as detailed exercise summaries on the Fitbit dashboard
  • Automatic sleep detection monitors sleep quality; also features a silent, vibrating alarm
  • Caller ID helps users stay connected to incoming calls; wristband vibrates and shows caller’s name or number when paired with smartphone that is nearby
  • High-quality, water-resistant, comfortable textured design with a secure clasp and a battery life of 7-10 days to track an entire week with just one charge
• Fitbit Charge HR: An advanced fitness tracker that delivers PurePulse continuous wrist-based heart rate tracking, all-day activity tracking, Caller ID and automatic sleep detection for active consumers looking to push their fitness further. Fitbit Charge HR includes all the great benefits of Fitbit Charge, plus:
  • Fitbit’s proprietary PurePulse optical heart rate technology, delivers continuous, automatic wrist-based heart rate tracking all-day (not just when you wake up) and during workouts without an uncomfortable chest strap
  • Heart rate helps users maintain workout intensity; maximize workouts with heart rates zones; track resting heart rate; and monitor all-day calorie-burn
  • All-day insights into overall heart health including resting heart rate and heart rate trends, alongside stats like steps, distance, floors climbed, calories and active minutes
  • Up to 5 days of battery life – Charge HR is specially designed with battery efficient technology, so users can spend more time tracking and less time charging
• Fitbit Surge: A Fitness Super Watch that combines popular features like GPS, PurePulse continuous wrist-based heart rate tracking, all day fitness tracking with smartwatch functionality in one device for people dedicated to reaching their peak performance
  • Built-in GPS delivers stats like real-time pace and distance along with elevation on device; seamlessly syncs with mobile devices to show route history, speed, elevation and workout summaries, leading to smarter training
  • Use multiple sport mode to record running, biking, cross training and cardio workouts and view detailed summaries of exercises completed – including heart rate and calories burned – empowering active consumers to effortlessly track and better understand their performance during their workouts
  • Advanced eight-sensor technology with GPS, 3-axis accelerometers, 3-axis gyroscope, digital compass, optical heart rate tracker, altimeter, ambient light sensor and a touchscreen
  • Combination of desirable smartwatch features including customizable watch faces, Caller ID, text alerts and mobile music control, with backlit LCD touchscreen display for easy viewing and navigation through real-time stats, workout apps and alarms
  • Up to 7 days battery life to track everything from the work week to a full marathon on one charge

The Fitbit family of trackers also includes Fitbit Flex, Fitbit One, Fitbit Zip and the Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale to help everyday users make every step count with everyday activities to improve their overall health and fitness:

• Fitbit Flex: A stylish activity and sleep-tracking wristband that offers a slim, minimalistic design for people that are goal-oriented and want more flexibility in accessorizing; tracks steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned, active minutes and sleep; 5 days of battery life
• Fitbit One: An advanced clip-based activity and sleep tracker that tracks steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned, floors climbed and sleep; 10-14 days battery life
• Fitbit Zip: A fun, simple clip-based activity tracker that tracks steps taken, distance traveled and calories burned; up to 6 months of battery life
• Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale: A high-end performance scale that tracks weight, BMI and body fat percentage over time; wirelessly syncs stats with online graphs and mobile tools that provide a long-term overview of progress

Steps Ahead of the Competition

• Superior heart rate tracking technology. Fitbit Charge HR and Fitbit Surge don’t just track resting heart rate – they both offer continuous, automatic heart rate tracking all day, all night and during workouts. PurePulse heart rate tracking provides more accurate calorie burn, the ability to maintain intensity during exercise and train more effectively with heart rate zones, and as well as resting heart rate – a widely used indicator of cardiovascular fitness and conditioning
• The right product to reach any goal. Fitbit offers a range of connected health and fitness devices spanning multiple styles, form factors, and price points (250 - 968 MYR), all with great battery life (five days to six months, depending on the tracker)—allowing people to find the devices that fit their lifestyles and goals
• A connected experience. Fitbit devices are widely accessible on most platforms, including more than 150 iOS, Android and Windows Phone products, as well as Mac and PC computers
• Seamless and smart, from app to dashboard. With apps ranked in the top five among Health & Fitness apps in both the iOS App Store and Google Play and a personalized online dashboard, Fitbit gives users a wide range of information and analysis to help them reach their health and fitness objectives
• A supportive global community. As the market leader, Fitbit products help motivate millions of users to achieve their goals both individually and within the community of Fitbit users they choose; with social and mobile tools like Fitbit Challenges, Fitbit helps users reach their health and fitness goals faster
  • Fitbit Challenges: Driven by friendly competition and real-time rankings, Fitbit Challenges have become a powerful motivator for the Fitbit community. Fitbit continues to add new Fitbit Challenges, like Goal Day, to keep users motivated
  • Achievement badges: To keep up with avid Fitbit users, new badges were introduced, including 100,000 daily steps (that’s about 50 miles) and 700 daily floors climbed (four times the tallest building in the world). Fitbit badges reward users for their achievements and help provide constant encouragement (available on iOS and Android)
  • Friend-finding features: Now users can find friends faster through email search features and Facebook Friend Finder (available on iOS and Android)

Pricing & Availability

The full-line of Fitbit products are available through major retailers including RadioShack, All IT Hypermarket, A One Plus, iStore, Harvey Norman and Superbuy.

• Fitbit Surge (RRP 968 MYR); available in black, blue and tangerine
• Fitbit Charge HR (RRP 620 MYR); available in black, plum, blue and tangerine
• Fitbit Charge (RRP 510 MYR) available in black, blue, burgundy and slate
• Fitbit Flex (RRP 408 MYR); available in 10 colors – black, slate, navy, red, tangerine, teal, violet, blue, lime and pink
• Fitbit One (RRP 408 MYR); available in black and burgundy
• Fitbit Zip (RRP 250 MYR); available in charcoal, magenta, blue, lime
• Fitbit Aria (RRP 525 MYR); available in black and white

Committed to Highest Quality Product Standards

Fitbit is committed to creating the highest quality products and helping customers learn the best way to wear their trackers. Fitbit consults with scientific experts and conducts extensive product tests with independent labs to ensure they meet stringent standards.

Fitbit encourages anyone wearing an activity tracking wristband, regardless of the brand, to follow four key elements for maximum enjoyment: keep it clean, keep it dry, don’t wear it too tight and give your wrist a rest. We recommend wearing the band loosely enough that it can move back and forth on your wrist. We have developed guidelines for our products with our Scientific Advisory Board dermatologists to educate the public on how they should wear and care for their device and keep their skin happy. These guidelines are available at www.fitbit.com/productcare.