Fitbit leads fitness band market, but Apple gaining

Fitbit leads fitness band market, but Apple gaining

Fitbit leads the fragmented fitness band market, but Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is poised to gain share with its Apple Watch, a new survey indicates.

Investment bank Robert W. Baird & Co. polled 5,000 U.S. consumers this month for its second fitness band survey. Roughly 20% of respondents claim that they own a fitness band, and purchase intent is strong.

Nearly one in four respondents say that they plan to buy a fitness band, up from 14% in Baird’s December survey. Fitbit is the leader in purchase intent, followed by new entrant Apple, then Jawbone and Garmin (NASDAQ:GRMN).

Fitbit lineup of activity trackers. View Enlarged Image

“Fitbit and Apple (are) seemingly positioned best in the growing industry, though Garmin and Jawbone should also benefit from the rising tide,” Baird analyst William Power said in a research report Thursday. Baird rates Apple stock as outperform and Garmin as neutral.

The May survey found that 8.4% of respondents own a Fitbit device, 3.6% own a Garmin fitness band, and 2.4% own a Jawbone.

Looking at purchase intent, 10.6% of respondents plan to buy a Fitbit, followed by Apple (5.9%), Jawbone (3.6%) and Garmin (3.1%), Baird said.

Among current fitness band owners, 16.5% plan to buy a Fitbit, followed by Apple (13%), Garmin (9.8%) and Jawbone (7.1%), Baird said.

Fitbit recently disclosed in its IPO filing that it had sold 10.9 million activity devices in 2014, up 144% year over year, and an additional 3.9 million in Q1 this year. Those data points provide “a strong proxy for the industry,” Power said.