Fitness tracker and digital coach Moov Now invades Apple stores

Just a couple of months after it announced a new version of its fitness tracker, US-based-but-Asia-connected startup Moov has announced a deal with Apple that has put its hardware on shelves in Apple stores around the globe, including Apple stores in Hong Kong and Singapore. The device is available right now both in retail stores and in Apple’s online stores in the accessories section.

Moov is a fitness band and tracking/coaching app that helps you work out by giving you real-time coaching feedback. For example, if you’re running but your cadence is off or your feet are falling too heavily, the Moov app will warn you via the voice of a computerized coach in your headphones. It’s not just about running, though; the Moov app currently also has workout programs for swimming, cycling, bodyweight exercises, and cardio boxing. Additionally, the Moov Now band can keep track of your activity throughout the day and log how well you’re sleeping at night.

“We’re super excited [about being in Apple stores],” Moov founder Meng Li told Tech in Asia. She said she couldn’t share a lot of details about the deal due to Apple’s confidentiality policies, but suggested that the key to making it happen was Moov’s unique “wearable coaching” feature. “It’s so advanced, and no other product is doing that,” she said. Even the Apple Watch, while it does have fitness tracking features, doesn’t offer anything like Moov’s in-app coaching.

Since the Moov Now has been in Apple Stores for such a short time, Li said she didn’t have any numbers to share. But based on historical sales data from other companies with accessories in Apple stores, Moov is expecting a big sales spike. “I don’t really have a number in mind,” Li said, “but sales are probably going to increase dramatically, especially over the holidays.” She says being in online Apple stores should make much easier for Asia-based users to buy the Moov, since previously they would have had to order and pay through the company’s US-based English-only site.

So is the startup ready to handle a sales spike? “We’re prepared,” Meng Li told me confidently. While the startup’s first-gen hardware was tough to produce, its current-gen device – the Moov Now – was built from the ground up with manufacturing in mind. “It’s a lot easier to manufacture,” Li says, and “a lot easier to increase volume.”

“It’s a big milestone,” Li said. Moov is scaling up in every sense of the word: app user numbers are climbing, production of the hardware is ramping up, and the startup is expanding too. “Everything is scaling up,” said Li, “it’s the next stage of the company.”

Tech in Asia‘s review of the second-generation Moov Now fitness tracker will be coming soon.