Fitbit went public two months after the Apple Watch went on sale, and investors still bid it up almost 50 percent on day one. The little clip-on tracker had turned walking into a game. It counted steps, distance, and calories, and it sent the numbers to your phone. Friends raced each other on weekly leaderboards. By June 2015, Fitbit was the name people knew in fitness trackers, and the question was whether a watch would swallow them.

A Sensor in a Clip

James Park and Eric Friedman incorporated Fitbit in San Francisco in April 2007. Park had bought a Nintendo Wii and loved its motion sensors, but the game kept players stuck in the living room. He wanted a gadget that used the same kind of sensor to get people out of the house. The first Fitbit was a small clip you wore on your clothes. The bet was that people would move more if they could see their numbers.

The Watch Arrives

Fitbit priced at $20 a share on June 17, 2015, above its range. It opened on the NYSE the next day under the ticker FIT and closed at $29.68. Then cheaper bands and smartwatches cut into sales, and the stock sank well below its offer price. Fitbit moved toward watches and health services. In January 2021 Google closed its purchase of Fitbit for $2.1 billion.

Cover: Animal Locomotion, Plate 174, Eadweard Muybridge. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a figure in motion, frame by frame (counting every step).