Fitness bands won't be around in two years, claims Virgin Active CIO

$100 bands from the likes of Fitbit and Jawbone will have morphed into something else as consumers will look for multiple functions, says Andy Caddy

Fitness bands from the likes of Fitbit and Jawbone won't be around in two years' time, according to the CIO of international health club operator Virgin Active, Andy Caddy.

Fitness bands have been on the market for a relatively short time, with each product being able to track different activities, whether it is step counting, sleep tracking or heart rate monitoring. But Caddy believes that these high-end bands are already on the verge of disappearing.

"I've seen the fitness band market evolve over the last few years but I don't think it's going to last much longer in terms of the $100 bands," he told Computing.

Caddy believes that after speaking to some of the fitness band manufacturers, there will be a shift into products that can compute multiple functions or into clothing.

The shift may also be as a result of the launch of Apple Watch and other high-end smart watches that have fitness and health apps available on them along with other functions usually associated with smartphones.

Caddy said that the wearable space interests him, and is something that Virgin Active is keeping its eye on, but he also believes that it's a very immature market.

He has called for the bigger technology vendors to adhere to an agreed set of standards in order to benefit consumers.

"What I'd like to see is some of the big guys like Samsung, Apple and Google really come up with some standards because there aren't really many standards in this [space] - a heart rate monitor on one device is different to another so I think it's quite difficult for a consumer to use these devices in a really productive way," he said.

Meanwhile, Caddy also revealed that Virgin Active will be launching an app for its customers later this year.