Misfit, maker of the Shine wearable, has closed a $40 million round of funding, including the first US investment from Chinese cellphone maker Xiaomi, TechCrunch reports. Sonny Vu, Misfit's chairman, told TechCrunch that his company didn't need the money; it still has $15 million from its last raise and is breaking even on hardware sales. More important was the partnerships … [Read more...]
Misfit Publishes an SDK, Hopes to Populate an Ecosystem
As the wearables market emerges, hardware developers are increasingly opening up their platforms to software developers. Misfit, makers of the Shine fitness tracker, is the latest to publish a software development kit that it hopes will let its hardware interact with a universe of third-party software writers. Misfit's claiming a list of 30 partners who are using the SDK and … [Read more...]
Misfit Climbs Into Bed with Beddit
Misfit, maker of the Shine activity tracker, has struck a deal with Beddit, maker of the eponymous sleep tracker, and is now selling the devices. The Beddit is a thin strip-like device that fits -- undetectably, they say -- under your mattress and keeps track of your movement in bed. The device claims to track sleep duration and quality, snoring, time to fall asleep, and … [Read more...]
Quote of the Day: Sonny Vu
“Why should we cling on to a dying business?” -- Sonny Vu, CEO of Misfit Wearables, maker of the Misfit Shine fitness tracker. Quoted in the Wall Street Journal about his company's deal to license its software to Pebble. … [Read more...]
Pebble Watches Will Now Run Misfit Software
Once Google announced Android Wear, we started to worry whether excellent products from Misfit and Pebble might be toast. Now comes word that they're building an ecosystem of their own, with Pebble devices tracking steps using Misfit software. The Misfit trackers are lovely, but have a scant user interface. Pebble watches aren't bad, but are primarily notification devices … [Read more...]
Apple Touts Wearables With New TV Ad
Apple doesn't have its own wearable device (yet), and the iOS version with HealthKit software won't launch until the Fall. But it's started doing the groundwork to get the market ready. We were watching the first game of Stanley Cup finals last night -- go Rangers! -- and this ad showed up between the first and second … [Read more...]
Runkeeper CEO Says Fitness Trackers Are Dead; We’re Not So Sure
Business Insider is carrying a very thoughtful and provocative article by Runkeeper CEO Jason Jacobs. Jacobs says that standalone fitness trackers like the Nike FuelBand, the Fitbit Force, or the Misfit Shine, are fads -- and that the future belongs to smartphones and software. The argument -- that consumers consistently bias toward simplicity and not complexity -- is … [Read more...]
For the Record: Misfit Adds $15.2M Funding
Misfit Technologies, maker of the Shine motion tracker, has reportedly raised another round of $15.2 million, in addition to the $7.6 million raised in a founder's cycle and $800,000 raised on Indiegogo. The money will go for a new product, slated to ship in early 2014. … [Read more...]
Engadget Expand Wearables Panel Video
The Engadget Expand show this past weekend had a panel on wearables, featuring people from Adafruit, Narrative, and Misfit. I don't know that there was a lot of new information for people who are up on this stuff, but it might make interesting viewing. My takeaways: There are no compelling wearable products yet and few compelling needs have been found for them. There … [Read more...]