NEW YORK — Microsoft made a smart decision in launching its new $199 Microsoft Band fitness tracker and a companion digital service called Microsoft Health: The gear and service can work across multiple mobile platforms.
The new wearable announced late Wednesday makes nice not just with Microsoft's own Windows Phone, but iOS and Android devices as well. You'll have to download a new Microsoft Health app.
Of course it may have been the only decision Microsoft could have made, given that Windows Phone has nowhere near the market share of the others. Suffice to say this is an area where there is a lot of healthy competition among Apple, Google, Samsungand more.
Regardless of Microsoft's motivation, the promising new wearable, which had been rumored for months and finally went on sale (in limited quantities) Thursday, does the kind of things you expect a fully-featured fitness tracker to do in a burgeoning market that appears to grow more competitive every day. And that's before Apple plunges in with the Apple Watch next year.
Unlike Apple's upcoming device, the Microsoft Band is more wrist-based fitness tracker than smart watch. It counts your steps and burned calories, monitors your heart rate 24-7 (or at least as long as you wear it) and measures the quality of your sleep. It also provides guided "curated" workouts from the likes of Gold's Gym, Shape, Men's Fitness and Muscle & Fitness.
The band has 10 "smart" sensors on board, including a sensor for GPS. It also delivers calendar alerts, stock quotes, texts and email previews to your wrist. And you'll even be able to pay for your coffee at Starbucks using the new band.
If you have a Windows Phone, you can exploit the services of Cortana, Microsoft's clever voice assistant.
But you won't necessarily have to purchase the Microsoft Band take advantage of the new cloud-based Microsoft Health service, which you can get to via an app of the same name on your phone. Microsoft announced that Microsoft Health will work with the Jawbone UP, MapMyFitness, MyFitnessPal and RunKeeper.
Microsoft is not new to the digital health space or to wearables. It launched HealthVaultback in 2007, a repository for storing your medical records online. Microsoft also had some of the earliest smart watches.
Shares of Microsoft are up 35% this year as investors see it making a stronger push to win back consumers lost as competing mobile platforms have caught on. The stock closed Thursday down slightly at $46.05
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