Apple expands health footprint, paving the way for Apple Watch X

The world’s largest technology company by market value and the former world’s largest social fitness company will create what kind of sparks? Just by thinking about it, Xiao Lei can come up with an inspirational and passionate film about a powerful alliance sweeping the world.

Last week, Deepwater Asset Management released a forecast report for 2024, and one of its predictions was that Apple would acquire Peloton. As a world-renowned asset management company, Deepwater's forecast reports still have a certain degree of credibility.

Everyone must be familiar with Apple, but who is this Peloton? Paraten's main business is selling Internet-connected fitness equipment hardware and providing paid subscription streaming fitness courses. At its peak, it also added a clothing product line. Riding the wind of the "home economy" in 2020, Paraten's stock price has risen frequently, hitting record highs repeatedly, and once became the world's largest social fitness company.

Photo source: pexels

It’s a pity that the good times did not last long. As the "home economy" trend gradually subsided and product safety issues occurred frequently, Paraton's stock price fell 96% from its peak. It only took 4 years from its rise to its demise. Although the glory of Paraten is no longer the same, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Today, Paraten still has about 3 million loyal users and is still competitive in fitness equipment and streaming fitness subscriptions.

Deepwater Asset Management predicts that if Apple acquires Paraten, it will not only complement smart watches and fitness tracking software with fitness equipment, but also provide Apple with subscription revenue An increase of approximately US$1.7 billion (approximately RMB 12.138 billion).

We might as well boldly predict what impact it will have on Apple’s health and wellness field assuming Apple really completes this acquisition.

First of all, from a brand perspective, Paraton is undoubtedly a pioneer in the field of home fitness. It enhances the user experience with its model that combines fitness equipment with subscription courses. , among which "large screen look and feel" is the direct reason why many users choose Paraton. If the acquisition is completed, Paraton's brand effect will directly enhance Apple's influence in the health field and gain a large number of selected and loyal users.

Secondly, from a product perspective, Apple can exert its influence in the technology field and iterate on the basis of Paraton’s existing model. Considering the huge number of global users of Apple devices, it is not impossible to recreate Paraten's past glory.

Apple Watch , I can't think of any other product that is more important than it."

#This is the original statement made by Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams at a public event. talk.

Looking back on the nine-year development history of Apple’s health business, the strategy is mainly divided into two directions. The first is to create sports and fitness functions to attract consumers; the second is to cooperate with traditional medical systems or medical institutions.

Apple Watch and iPhone are important carriers of Apple’s health business, responsible for providing users with functions in the field of health and fitness. Most of the functions are centered around Apple Watch, including heart rate measurement, sleep monitoring, women's health, etc. iOS 16 and watchOS 9, which will be released in 2022, will cover as many as 17 health functions, and now mental health and vision health have been added.

Source: Apple

There is therefore news of Apple acquisition at this time Xiao Lei believes that the news about Paraten is probably because Apple is preparing for the 10th anniversary of the release of Apple Watch.

As early as January last year, a supply chain revealed that Apple would launch major design adjustments similar to iPhoneX on the 10th anniversary of the release of Apple Watch. The general idea is to skip Apple Watch Series 9 and release Apple Watch X directly.

Everyone knows what happened later. Apple Watch Series 9 arrived as scheduled, but this Apple Watch X will still come with a high probability. As for whether it will be in 2024 or 2025, Nothing can be said yet.

According to Bloomberg technology reporter Mark Gurman (Mark Gurman), Apple Watch X is expected to be the biggest update to Apple Watch to date. It is expected to adopt a thinner case and new strap, a magnetically designed strap connection method, and a Micro LED display.

Of course, no matter how much product adjustments Apple Watch X has made, Xiao Lei always feels that smart functions are the core that distinguishes smart watches from traditional watches. The acquisition of Paraten will fill the vacancy of Apple Watch in fitness equipment, and users will have more choices in exercise monitoring types. The establishment of a connection between the two will also improve the user experience to a certain extent.

Apple Watch, the ceiling of smart watches?

In fact, even with the addition of Paraten resources, it is just the icing on the cake for Apple Watch. The only opponent of Apple Watch may be itself.

Source: Counterpoint

Statistics released by the market research agency Counterpoint show that Apple Watch will dominate the smart watch market in 2022 In a dominant position. Its shipment volume accounted for 34.1% and total revenue accounted for 60%.

We can intuitively see from the data chart that Apple’s dominance in the smartphone market is still strengthening. Compared with 2021, Apple will further widen the gap with second-place Samsung in 2022. Although the shipments of other manufacturers have basically remained stable, it is obviously difficult to compete with Apple.

Although the latest data for 2023 has not yet been released, the Apple Watch Series 9 launched at the conference last fall was called the smallest upgraded Apple Watch in history by many netizens product. Many consumers are still waiting and watching, which may have a certain impact on the total shipments of Apple smart watches in 2023, but I believe that no one can shake Apple's leading position yet.

In addition to toothpaste products, Apple Watch has also suffered a direct blow in terms of policy. Recently, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) announced a sales ban on Apple’s Apple Watch series of products. Before resolving the patent infringement dispute, Apple’s official website stopped selling related products including Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2.

This will inevitably affect the sales of Apple Watch series related products and damage the brand image of Apple smart watches. But again, the only competitor for Apple Watch may be itself. As long as Apple finally resolves the dispute smoothly, everything will be back on track.

Write it at the end

#Look around the smart watches from other manufacturers on the market, such as Huawei HUAWEI Watch, Xiaomi Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch, etc. are all good smart watch products, and they have gained many loyal users in different price ranges.

It’s not that they are not good enough, but that smart wearable devices are basically deeply bound to mobile phones. The popularity of the iPhone has also greatly contributed to the sales of the Apple Watch series. The iOS ecosystem is one of the advantages of the Apple Watch series. Apple users can also fully experience the smooth cross-terminal interconnection on FamilyMart devices.

Source: Apple

But everything has two sides, iOS To some extent, ecology has also become a stumbling block for Apple smart watches to attract more Android phone users. Xiaolei still hopes that Apple can consider relaxing the restrictions of Apple Watch on Android phones. After all, it is not a bad thing to attract more users.

#In short, if Apple Watch But if it is just a product that sells feelings but actually squeezes out toothpaste, then no matter how much Apple expands its health territory, it will not help.

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