Is Samsung About To Make A Similar Tech Mistake To Google, Amazon, And Apple? Leadership Lessons In Category Failures Around Health And Fitness Tracking Wearables
To be Legendary, you need to create something (a product or service) that is differentiated in the market, you need to be the Leader of that market.
However, this becomes hard for larger organizations like Samsung, Google, and Amazon. The bureaucracy, the approvals, and the battles between teams’ interests. Even if they have stood out as phenomenal companies in one arena, it is often difficult to transition into different arenas.
This tends to lead to new companies that begin to develop products and services that become Legendary.
Due to Stockholder demands, these large companies are then pushed to use their resources to compete.
This has been going on in the Health and Fitness Tracking Wearables (H&FTW) Category for a few years now. Within it, there are a few new companies and products that have stood out. They have been REALLY redefining that market exceptionally!
Google, Amazon, and Apple have all attempted to make dents, and have all failed.
According to a trademark filing made last week (2/23/23), it appears Samsung is about the make a similar mistake!
What’s Gone Wrong For Big Tech?
Google, Amazon, and Apple have all made mistakes in trying to take over the H&FTW Category.
Each one made attempts in different ways, however. Their methods were unique, but their results were the same. When it comes to “Category Science”, this makes sense.
The Category King/Queen tends to take anywhere from 50% to around 75% of the market, while every other company fights for the remaining scraps.
The reason is that these other companies are not doing anything Legendary, nothing differentiated, they aren’t Leaders.
This is no different in the H&FTW market. Fitbit was the company that created the market, and from there WHOOP, Oura, and Lief each created their own High-End Niche Categories within it. This began the race for Big Tech.
Apple’s Mistake
Apple in particular hated that this was occurring because it took away sales directly from their “Wearables” dominance with the Apple Watch.
People began to say, “Why would I just want a smartwatch when I could have something that helps my health as well?”
Apple’s response is a typical large-company response. If “they” can do it with what little resources they have, we should be able to do it better! Apple then began to add new features to their watches to attempt to compete.
The problem though was that it was too late.
They decided to compete directly with Fitbit, but Fitbit was already the Category King/Queen of H&FTW.
Apple still wins the “wearables” category of course. However, when someone was interested specifically in H&FTW, they turned to Fitbit without question. Fitbit did everything the Apple Watch could do, but both better and cheaper.
Google’s Mistake
Google saw Apple competing, and losing, and so took a different approach.
If Apple can’t beat Fitbit, why should they try to fight that battle? They knew they couldn’t win the category on their own, especially if Apple couldn’t. Plus, then they would be competing with both Fitbit AND Apple.
So, if you can’t beat them, why not buy them?
This led to Google purchasing Fitbit, meaning that Google now owned the Category.
However, it created a different problem for Google. Google also had its own product in the “Wearables” space, the Pixel Watch. Fitbit therefore (in)directly competed with their own Pixel Watch.
So, why compete with yourself when you own both technologies?
Google made a decision to focus on one of its products, but they chose the wrong product.
Instead of attempting to build Fitbit, which was already winning, they decided to transition features of Fitbit to their Pixel Watch. As they did this, they also didn’t innovate on the Fitbit product. As other companies, like WHOOP, Oura, and Lief were growing the category in differentiated ways, Google’s products were both losing market — the Pixel Watch was a loser in both categories and Fitbit had become a gutted product unable to compete.
Amazon’s Mistake
Perhaps the most laughable mistake belongs to Amazon.
As Google’s Fitbit was losing ground, Amazon decided that perhaps they could go with a different product that was starting to take a lead in the H&FTW market. They began to have discussions with WHOOP about potentially purchasing them. According to WHOOP founders, things looked like they were going positively.
Suddenly, Amazon pulled out something that no one saw coming.
Instead of purchasing WHOOP, Amazon released a DIRECT competitor, something that actually looked EXTREMELY similar to WHOOP’s product.
However, this DRAMATICALLY backfired. WHOOP had already won their Niched market, and people saw WHOOP as the better product, not to mention Amazon’s product looked cheap in comparison. On top of this, Amazon added “new features” that NOBODY wanted because Amazon was completely disconnected from what the target audience wanted.
One feature judged the tone of your voice, and told female users that they “sounded judgy”.
Another feature asked users to take pictures of themselves in their underwear, leading to the question, “Why does Amazon want nearly naked pictures of me?”
Will Samsung Make The Same Mistake(s)?
Looking at the patent that Samsung released, it appears they may be attempting to do something similar with a different Category King/Queen Company, Oura.
The Oura Ring is a H&FTW that is designed to be extremely fashionable as a ring. Its main target is those who take “Overall Wellness” very seriously. This means it is niched differently than both WHOOP (Fitness Focused) and Lief (High Accuracy Mental Wellness Minded) products.
Looking at the past, Samsung may be attempting to do something similar to either Apple or Amazon.
However, in either case, they will lose.
The Oura Ring itself is highly regarded by those that use it, is also backed by some impressive individuals, and has received rewards for its technology.
The only way for Samsung to win would be to create something that is truly innovative. However, in attempting to do that there is a high likelihood they will pull an Amazon. Due to the size of Samsung, it is unlikely that they will be as in tune with the customer base, nor able to move with as much agility as Oura.
BONUS — If You’re Interested In Using H&FTW
If you are interested in using these types of products, here are some recommendations from someone that uses them:
➼ Lief Therapeutics is the BEST and MOST ACCURATE device on the market and is AMAZING for wellness, especially for decreasing stress (Should be a TOP priority for Leaders).
It is also the ONLY device that gives REAL TIME feedback (great for Flow States) as well as the ability to get a human coach to help you improve your health!
It is “odd” because it requires you to wear it on your chest, but it’s worth it as that gives you the absolute most accurate data, and I use mine every day while I work!
If you want to check it out, Use Code “LEADER” to get 15% Off your First Month!
➼ If you are interested in being Fitter and using your device with workouts (great benefits for your physiology and improve your Leadership), then I’d HIGHLY recommend the WHOOP band which I also use EVERY day!
It is fantastic for helping guide your workouts, as well as optimize your sleep! Its electronic coach gives recommendations to assist you with optimizing! It is also the device that has the highest amount of data points taken, making it EXTREMELY accurate.
If you want to check it out, You can get a FREE Month Here https://join.whoop.com/A767BA with my Affiliate Link!
On the App, you can also join “The Leadership Guide” Community and compare your health and fitness journey with mine! Team Code: COMM-B5D000
➼ If you are mostly interested in Wellness, but just want overall information, then I would recommend the Oura Ring!
I don’t “personally” use this device, but I know MANY people who LOVE their ring! It’s an extremely fashionable item with data that is just a half-step lower than what WHOOP provides. Overall it really is a fantastic item that you can’t go wrong with using.
➼ If you are looking for more of a Smartwatch, and are only “mildly” interested in the H&W side of everything, I’d recommend either Fitbit or Apple Watch.
Since Google gutted their Fitbit App recently, these two products offer basically the same amount level of H&W information (minimal) but are still great SmartWatches. Apple overall is the king/queen of smartwatches, however as I personally HATE Apple devices, I use Fitbit specifically as a smartwatch.
