Comment by dmix

I have a $100 Garmin scale as well as a watch [1] and some similar devices and it seems like a good value to me but many people I know say "gee, that's expensive!"

I am really impressed with my Apple hardware but the services strike me as uniformly shoddy and dare I say a lifestyle brand that seduces people into treating garbage as if was gold. Ok, I like what they did with Foundation, I really do, but I think Apple Health, Apple Home and all of those things are for suckers and Withings probably thinks so too. For all I know Apple is charging them an arm and a leg to participate. On the other hand, Garmin Connect takes my active lifestyle seriously.

[1] with 100% satisfaction after discovering third party charging cables!

Yes, it's not as captivating as a $1,200 iPhone or $4,000 MacBook Pro. But we're talking about habits, and gradual changes and engagements.

However, once you're within a system, and used to interacting with it on a daily basis, you would lean towards their slight nudges and pushes, and over time subscribe to a $2/month service, or their "new solutions" etc.

Not to forget their continued advertisements in the app, and constant pushes. You're no longer a customer that purchases a product, but instead a captive audience that is constantly being engaged and steered towards one thing or another.

I'm a cheapskate so I'd probably make a shortcut so I can say "siri, log my weight at 165 lbs" and have that put my weight into apple health or a spreadsheet. It's a bit more friction, but if the data is useful that's what I'd do. If I find that I'm not using the shortcut, then the data probably isn't useful.