Apple (AAPL) has made no secret about its desire to expand (and do so rapidly) into the health and wellness sector. CEO Tim Cook has gone as far as saying the company's "greatest contribution to mankind" will be its push into health.
The $2.6 trillion company has already given us the iPod, the iPad, the iPhone, the iMac, AirPods, watches, and dozens of other gadgets, apps, and ecosystems. But it's just getting started. At least, that's its story.
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Apple's foray into health hasn't exactly been seamless. It released its health app in 2014, to the confusion of more than a few iPhone users (its purpose is actually to help you organize your health records and information into one place). In 2015, the Apple Watch was released, and you could do all sorts of fun things with it like track your heart rate, step count, calories burned in a workout -- and later, more advanced metrics like sleep quality and VO2 max levels.
Apple's boldest and most recent bet on health has been its 2020 release of Apple Fitness+, which offers ad-free (read: premium subscription) guided fitness classes, all from the comfort of your home -- or wherever you stream your Apple devices.
Health Wearables Are a Daring Endeavor
Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, plenty of goods & hardware companies began billing themselves as tech firms in the wellness space. Take Peloton (PTON), for example, which went from being a stationary bike with an iPad to a revolutionary health tech disruptor with a nearly $50 billion market cap overnight. Lululemon (LULU) went from selling $120 leggings to gobbling up an interactive at-home studio mirror and selling it to a somewhat tepid audience for $995 up front.
Of course, Peloton came back down to earth and the bikes that once had a months-long waiting list are now sold on Amazon (AMZN) and secondhand on Facebook. Lululemon is desperately looking to offload its ill-fated Mirror mistake, and Apple remains questionably elusive about how many Fitness+ subscribers it has.
Still, Apple's watch dominates the wearables category in terms of market share, and its seamless integration with all other Apple products makes it far and away the best choice for health-conscious individuals who don't want to unplug ... not even for a workout.
Which is why Best Buy (BBY) dipping its toes into the wearables category is a uniquely daring maneuver. So daring, in fact, that it just might work.
Best Buy Takes on Apple Health
Best Buy will begin carrying Oura rings, a Finland-based wearable company that tracks a variety of health metrics, including sleep tracking, illness monitoring, heart rate variability (HRV), and activity levels. If it sounds a lot like the Apple Watch, that's because it is.
The main difference, however, is that an Oura ring is far smaller; it's usually worn on the index finger and looks like any other gold, copper, gunmetal, or silver ring. It's incredibly discreet, its battery lasts up to seven days, and many users argue its metrics, particularly its sleep tracking, are more fine-tuned than Apple's.
But since it's a ring, Ouras have previously been difficult to size and obtain. Shipping and fulfillment take longer, and trying a ring on is next to impossible unless you're willing to make the $300 purchase up front. Now, though, Best Buy will be carrying Ouras in more than 850 stores across the U.S. and online.
"Brick-and-mortar retail is a natural next step for ŌURA and marks a pivotal moment for the business as we continue to expand into the mainstream,” Oura CEO Tom Hale said in a statement. "Introducing more people to the benefits of ŌURA’s technology and providing an impactful in-store and online experience with the help of Best Buy is an exciting step forward for us as a company."
Best Buy will offer in-store sizing, membership tutorials and education on how to get the most out of Oura, and quick shipping and pickup.
The partnership isn't Oura's first, but it almost guarantees Oura will become a yet larger player in the wearable tech space.
Oura also has partnerships with Gucci, which sells an upscale couture ring for $850, as well as Therabody stores. But selling the gadgets in Best Buy is easily its largest and most accessible partnership yet that aims competition squarely at Apple by directly targeting large segments of the population that wants to wear something just a little more discreet.
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