Garmin Grows in the Wearables Market with Device, Community, and Third-Party App Strategies
"We are experiencing strong momentum in the wearables market as a result of an intentional focus on key strategies. We believe that wearable devices enable and enhance a broad range of active lifestyles, and we offer purpose-built devices designed specifically for those lifestyles"
OLATHE, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), today reported new data that demonstrates the company’s strong and growing position in the wearables market. Garmin specializes in the design and manufacturing of unique and useful wearables for active lifestyles.
Garmin was an early mover and pioneer in the wearables market when it introduced the Forerunner 201 in 2003 – its first GPS enabled wearable targeting the running market. Since then, Garmin has shipped more than 20 million wearable devices. The Garmin wearables strategy is centered on purpose-built devices for consumers who want to measure and enhance their active lifestyle pursuits, whether it’s running, cycling, swimming, golfing, walking, or simply being more active.
But the strategy doesn’t end there. Nearly 11 years ago, the Garmin Connect™ online community was formed which recognized the value in storing, tracking, analyzing, and sharing of fitness and other data that its customers collect. Today, Garmin Connect has over 15 million user accounts, with 5 million new users joining in 2015 alone. Garmin Connect enhances motivation by enabling users to compete with family and friends who also live active lifestyles, and offers insights to individual users to help them reach health and wellness goals and recognize accomplishments. The Garmin Connect community is supported by a powerful ecosystem of partners like Nike, Strava, MyFitnessPal and MapMyFitness enabling customers to experience fully the data they collect on their wearable within the community of their choice.
The most recent – and fastest growing – pillar of the Garmin wearables strategy is its Connect IQ™ Application Store, which was established less than two years ago. Since then users have downloaded over 10 million Connect IQ apps – all of which are free. In fact, Connect IQ users on average download approximately 10 apps per device. This high level of engagement is the result of the rich utility that third-party apps provide such as maps, weather forecasts, custom workouts, custom data fields, widgets, watch faces, and many more ways to make their devices their own.
“We are experiencing strong momentum in the wearables market as a result of an intentional focus on key strategies. We believe that wearable devices enable and enhance a broad range of active lifestyles, and we offer purpose-built devices designed specifically for those lifestyles,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin president and CEO. “To that we add a compelling online user community where users track their fitness goals and progress over time and motivate themselves and others to achieve even more. Finally, we offer a rich set of third-party apps, widgets, and watch faces that allow users to customize their device making it both useful and fun. Garmin is a leader in the wearables market because we offer a broad and deep range of devices, a powerful user community, and personalization enabled through third-party apps.”
For decades, Garmin has pioneered new GPS navigation and wireless devices and applications that are designed for people who live an active lifestyle. Garmin serves five primary business units, including automotive, aviation, fitness, marine, and outdoor recreation. For more information, visit Garmin's virtual pressroom at garmin.com/newsroom, contact the Media Relations department at 913-397-8200, or follow us at facebook.com/garmin, twitter.com/garmin, oryoutube.com/garmin.
About Garmin
Garmin International Inc. is a subsidiary of Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN). Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in Switzerland, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Garmin is a registered trademark, and Garmin Connect and Connect IQ are trademarks of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries.
All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
Notice on Forward-Looking Statements:
This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Garmin Ltd. and its business. Such statements are based on management’s current expectations. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur and actual results could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting Garmin, including, but not limited to, the risk factors listed in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 26, 2015, filed by Garmin with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission file number 0-31983). A copy of such Form 10-K is available at http://www.garmin.com/aboutGarmin/invRelations/finReports.html. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Garmin undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.