Fitbit announces Blaze smartwatch, investors aren't taking the news well

Fitbit's stock has taken a dive after the company announced a smartwatch at CES 2016, sending shares from $30.21 at the stock market's opening yesterday, to just $23.73 at the time of writing this article. It would seem that investors were not too keen on Fitbit going after the likes of Apple Watch with its upcoming Blaze.

Fitbit is focused on fitness trackers, and is actually the largest vendor in the wearables market, having shipped 4.7 million units in Q3 2015. The smartwatch market is dominated by Apple Watch; although there are no official sales numbers, IDC says that Apple sold 3.9 million units in the same time frame.

Blaze is positioned as fitness-oriented smartwatch, in a market which is filled with smartwatches that can best be described as the jack of all trades, master of none. Since there seems to be a market in fitness trackers/bands, as Fitbit and its competitors have proven so far, the company likely expects prospective smartwatch buyers to have a similar interest.

However, seeing as Blaze is meant to be a smartwatch, Fitbit has also packed some smartwatch-worthy features in its new device. There are things like smart notifications, changeable clock faces, a color touchscreen, the ability to take and reject calls and so on.

But the number of fitness-oriented features dominate its feature list. You have features like a built-in GPS which ties in with its fitness-tracking capabilities, a personal trainer, support for different sports, heart rate tracking, exercise recognition, sleep tracking, and compatibility with all major platforms to see stats on smartphones, tablets and PCs.

What's particularly interesting about Blaze, compared to other smartwatches, is the low price of $199.95. Bands will be available from $29.95, and you can get leather and steel bands too, albeit at a premium (they cost $99.95 and $129.95, respectively). Blaze is available to pre-order starting today, with retail availability slated for March.