Fit for purpose?

Wearable technology has become big business. Now, to re-imagining the future

Fitbit executives ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange. Valerie Caviness / EPA

The enthusiastic response to last week’s initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange of shares in Fitbit is a sign of things to come. By valuing the company as high as $8 billion (Dh29.4bn), the market has declared Fitbit – which manufactures wristbands that record users’ vital health data – the first success story in the much-vaunted “wearable technology” sector. It’s early days yet, but it’s fair to say that wearables are now officially a big thing.

Fitbit already has several competitors and its major limitation would seem to be the fact that it has just one function, unlike, for example, the new Apple Watch, which already has 3,500 different apps. Whether it gets swallowed up or stands alone as a niche product, Fitbit has at least started the conversation about what other technology we’ll one day be wearing or, indeed, may be implanted in our bodies. We have one suggestion: an “UnFitbit”, which instead of encouraging us to exercise all the time suggests that we sometimes slow down and smell the roses.