This is an article I wrote in my blog earlier this year - https://www.apple.com/ca/newsroom/2020/09/apple-fitness-plus-a-personalized-fitness-experience-comes-to-life-with-apple-watch/.
I upgraded my Apple Watch in February this year as a gift to myself for my birthday from Series 5 to Series 9. I started using Apple Watch just because I loved technology not because I was into fitness. I used to do yoga and swimming sporadically until last year although I practiced meditation regularly through an app called Balance. But my recent upgrade of Apple Watch came with a surprise: a three month-trail for Apple Fitness+
Initially, I was skeptical that I wouldn't work out anyway and didn't want to redeem the free trial. But then, out of curiosity, I installed it and to my surprise, it has changed my life for the better. As someone who doesn't take New Year resolutions to get into fitness and go to the gym regularly, I am always too lazy after work to walk all the way to my gym that's just downstairs.
After Apple Fitness+, I have changed for the better hitting my exercise goals every day for the past 53 days with April 16th being an exception due to travel. The app is a visual delight true to Apple's design philosophy and super easy to use. It offers a diverse range of workouts - Meditations, Strength, HITT, Yoga, Core, Pilates, Dance, Kickboxing, Cycling, Treadmill, Rowing, and Mindful Cooldown (for post-workout relaxation).
The best part about Fintess+ is its seamless integration with my iPad and Apple Watch to track my progress, calories burned, and heart rate. I use my iPad to do my workouts while wearing my Apple Watch. Typical Apple! Simplicity and convenience rather than having a gazillion things.
What's your favorite product is a typical question that will be asked in any product manager questions. Because of recency bias, the answer of course fluctuates. So, my favorite product right now is Apple Fitness+. Let me put on my product manager hat and explain the problem Apple is solving here, Apple's product strategy, and what I like and what I envision for this product in the future.
Many individuals like myself struggle to find the motivation, time, and resources to incorporate regular exercise into their daily routines. There is a need for a versatile and engaging fitness solution that caters to various fitness levels and preferences, promotes consistency in physical activity, and integrates smoothly with users’ existing technology devices to enhance ease of use and tracking capabilities.
“Apple’s greatest contribution to mankind will be about health” — Tim Cook
Apple has recently created various fitness-adjacent hardware (e.g., Watches, AirPods) in recent times. Apple rarely tries to win solely based on hardware specs alone. Given its push for Apple One which is Apple's own version of bundling/subscription services that costs 30-50% lower than individual subscriptions to Apple services. Each piece of hardware can become a launchpad for new, ultra-profitable services for Apple hardware which is why Apple Watch enabled them to start selling Fitness+.
This is a clear strategy from Apple and a typical smart move. Whenever they launch a new device, they make profits twice - one through the sales of physical devices and the second through their subscription for services. There is also another staying that all the Silicon Valley Companies end up being banks at some point which is true with Apple already having a Card service, but to expand their banking capabilities, they need to able to have products that are available in each industry which would allow them to expand this offering as well.
According to Future Business Insights, the global health and fitness club market size is projected to grow from $112.17 billion in 2023 to $202.78 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 8.83%. The pandemic has also seen a huge paradigm shift from in-person gym training to remote or virtual at-home fitness. This hasn't changed much even after the world got back to normalcy.
Fitness+ is targeted at users seeking a structured way to start their fitness journey, fitness enthusiasts who need variety in their fitness journey, and those who need a perfect companion when they miss their gym days, a convenient supplement to your daily routines. Their workouts also require no weights or minimal weights that you can purchase online at a reasonable price. Users can also add this to their gym workout, especially for cycling, treadmills, and rowing which most users don't have access to at home.
Fitness+ is not for users who want to know their special diet requirements, need live feedback on the form and posture, or want to use specialized equipment that is not affordable easily.
Apple also collects valuable health data through its devices (only if you consent to it). For instance, I wear my Apple Watch while I sleep at night to track my sleep patterns and it's quite astonishing that my sleep cycle has been so poor as I have been getting only six hours of sleep on average at night.
With amazing news like the Apple Watch saved someone's life as it saw a drop in their heart rate and so many more examples, Apple could totally revolutionize the healthcare industry.
This is also a highly competitive space including your local gyms, or fitness clubs and bigger names like Pelaton, Fitbit Premium, Samsung, Nike Training Club, Mirror (Lululemon), Zwift, Daily Burn, million YouTube channels, etc. We also saw a rise in the adoption of meditation apps in recent times (Calm, Headspace, Balance, etc.) largely due to the pandemic but also due to the current generations' huge awareness about mental health. So Fitness+ addresses both physical and mental health as well.
Healthcare is a highly regulated space and has high standards for data privacy and security. Apple needs to continually innovate to stay relevant in the space. Even with its loyal users (like myself), it still has a challenge of acquiring the non-Apple device users market since Fitness+ requires an Apple device to use its services.
Current Features of Fitness+
Easy and beautiful design with intuitive experience.
Gamification: I love the gamification aspect of Fitness+ which transforms exercise into a playful adventure. Closing those rings on your watch becomes a quest, fueled by delightful animations and a rewarding points system and even your trainers keep reminding you to choose your rings. You can share your workouts with friends, and together. The closed ring is not a metric but it gives you a victory sensation once you close it.
Diverse workouts: Fitness+ offers a library of workouts like 30-day core challenge, and Fitness for Beginners, etc., that address the needs for different types of exercises and difficulty levels. It also gives you the option to wind down after a workout through its mindful cool-down option. It's an end-to-end complete experience. You can pause your workouts, but you can't skip or fast-forward which is a good thing since it forces you to own that workout and not skip it. You can also create your own custom workout plan.
Each workout has a set of songs/albums/artists connected with Apple Music. It introduces us to new music and also a nudge to make us use Apple Music.
A special focus on mindfulness and sleep meditation is really appreciable, but I still feel the urge to use the Balance app for my focus on mental health as it specializes in meditation alone. Maybe Fitness+ might be a future option for me when Apple adds more specialized meditations and more techniques to practice them.
Amazing set of trainers who offer motivational pep talks in addition to helping you push through the workouts. Diversity among the trainers is another positive thing with Fitness+ who also happen to use sign language, and in addition, I have yet to try the "Time to Walk" experience which I heard is an immersive experience in itself with celebrities telling you a captivating story when you start walking.
The affordable price point is one of the huge positives for me. At CAD 12.99/month (or) CAD 99/ year, I am definitely paying for the subscription after my free trial period ends.
What Does the Future Hold for Fitness+?
In short, it's brimming with possibilities.
Live on-demand training with expert trainers could be a game-changer. Helping us to avoid workout injuries and also combining with specialized diet plans. Adding features like calorie trackers and meal planners would allow users to make informed dietary choices and also hold us responsible to the trainers instead of doing cheat days.
With the amount of health data Apple collects, it could help healthcare industries come up with novel solutions for health problems but also suggest users with recommendations and also to take care of themselves when required.
Having used an Oculus for workouts, I feel Fitness+ fits right into Apple's Vision Pro portfolio and could use this as an additional value proposition in the future.
Apple could also expand its hardware capabilities with exercise equipment like Pelaton with in-built smart systems to train the users.
With so many exciting features and potential, I think Apple has got itself a winner in hand with endless possibilities. This is just based on my observation and still, there is a huge potential to dig deeper and provide more insights. Happy to discuss it if you find this interesting and have any additional opportunities you think Apple might have with Fitness+
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