THE SQUEEZE IS ON - Fitbit's Miss in Q4 '16 was BOTH Apple and Xiaomi's Gain

Weeks ahead of Fitbit’s full Q4 16 results the #1 wearable vendor globally warned that revenues in the key gift-giving quarter would lag guidance by a glaring 22%. Also in Q4 commoditized Chinese fitness bands drove #2 Xiaomi to record global sales. Apple likewise beat expectations shipping 5.2 million units globally for the #3 spot. This Insight looks at the shifts underway in wrist-worn wearable tech—shifts driven by a race to the bottom on the low end and a burning need on the high end to better integrate with major cloud, content and context platforms in order to stay relevant. (e.g. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft)