Fitbit’s smartwatch plan hits more snags

Fitbit Inc., months away from the debut of its smartwatch, has lost several people working on the project and fallen behind on its app store - putting in peril the company's most important product in years.

Hard hit by the sinking popularity of its fitness trackers, Fitbit has bet its future on the smartwatch. But such devices typically are wedded to an ecosystem of compatible devices, apps and services that lure then lock people in.

While Fitbit's watch can play music and handle payments, according to people familiar with the product, a discussed partnership with Spotify failed to materialize and technical challenges mean the app store may not be ready when the watch arrives this fall.

In an emailed statement, Fitbit said the development of the smartwatch and third-party apps 'are on track” and that 'any claims that the developer program is struggling is false.” The company said it's 'well positioned to succeed.”

The global wearables market is expected to grow about 20 percent this year to 125.5 million devices shipped, according to researcher IDC. But Fitbit's watch will be competing with not just Apple but dozens of cheaper Android products.

Fitbit recently lost its position as the top seller of wearable devices, falling behind Apple and China's Xiaomi Corp. Investors are skeptical of the company's prospects, pushing the shares down 55 percent in the past 12 months.

And while Fitbit has a loyal base of users that it can push the new device to, analysts say the company could struggle to get traction outside that fairly narrow niche.

The Fitbit watch is expected to sell for less than $300 and will run a custom operating system based in part on the one that powered Pebble watches versus a more ubiquitous operating system such as Android Wear.

Fitbit originally planned to debut its watch this spring, according to a person familiar with the situation, but various setbacks forced the company to push the release to the fall. That means the device will probably go head-to-head with the latest Apple Watch, which has an established app store, tight integration with the iPhone, built-in music and payments services, not to mention thousands of accessories.