MagicBand+ announced

[ppete1975]

I just think that if they are trying to compete with several other fitness tracking and smartwatch brands, they'll get slayed. This is both on the hardware and software front. A light up gimmick toy that only works if you spend 5 grand to go to WDW/DL works better IMO.

its not competition. Theres no need for heart rate monitoring, theres no need to take calls, track sleep, or the million other things a fitbit or apple watch can do. But people would love to see steps and maybe the time but since some activity trackers dont have a clock face the steps would be the big deal.

I assume most people who buy a fitbit only care about how many steps they get in, the rest of it isnt even looked at.

The point of my post is right now the magic band is only useful in the parks. So if you go once every 4 years you buy one then it gets thrown in a drawer or thrown away. Most people only buy them for function while at the parks.

For no cost you could make it into a watch as well, or even a step tracker. Now people could wear them everywhere, people would buy more of them that werent even in the park. Youd see more people collect them. You would get comments from people "where did you get the cute haunted mansion watch" and they would buy them. Right now they are selling to a niche. This could make it go mainstream.

You wouldnt aim at fitbit or apple, youd be your own thing.

 

[Indy_UK]

They certainly won’t add step trackers in them because then they would be under even more pressure to bring the parking trams back…

 

[yonafunu]

I read "soon", "very soon", "soon in 2022". is there any chance to getting them before september ? Or is it more likely for the end of 2022 ?
What's your thoughts ?

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Now all they need to do is tell the time!

 

[WDWFanRay]

Will the new MagicBand shoot itself in the foot?

 

[rct247]

I'm also in the boat that this is again missing the mark. With higher numbers of Guests wearing smart watches, why not just work with that? I get it, proprietary functions for a proprietary system and to make more money. There will be people who will buy it, but I'm not sure it will take off as they hope. I could be wrong though.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I just think that if they are trying to compete with several other fitness tracking and smartwatch brands, they'll get slayed. This is both on the hardware and software front. A light up gimmick toy that only works if you spend 5 grand to go to WDW/DL works better IMO.

Yeah I think people are vastly overestimating the feature set of this thing.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

For no cost you could make it into a watch as well, or even a step tracker.

"For no cost"?

 

[ppete1975]

"For no cost"?

yep, r and d would cost as would fabrication of the prototype etc. But the cost comparison to the one currently being developed to the upgraded one would be negligible. You can buy an accelerometer right now of under a dollar and thats including bulk or even looking for a vendor. A face even cheaper. Cost increase would maybe be 10 cents at max for Disney.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

yep, r and d would cost as would fabrication of the prototype etc. But the cost comparison to the one currently being developed to the upgraded one would be negligible. You can buy an accelerometer right now of under a dollar and thats including bulk or even looking for a vendor. A face even cheaper. Cost increase would maybe be 10 cents at max for Disney.

It would need also need Bluetooth, an iOS and Android companion app, a decent backlight, and a much bigger battery.

 

[ppete1975]

It would need also need Bluetooth, an iOS and Android companion app, a decent backlight, and a much bigger battery.

it really wouldnt it could all be on the watch face.. just like most activity trackers now. You realize you can get a fitbit knockoff at walmart with heart rate sleep alarms apps etc etc etc for 10 dollars... which means they are probably making them for less than a dollar.

This is cheap technology. So for Disney to just have an accelerometer which isnt going to drain your battery and a clock face which uses a miniscule amount of energy. Remember we had digital watches for years that told the time that lasted years on a very small cr2032 battery if not smaller (which is super old tech).

All you would need to sell these is say it now has a watch face and also shows how many steps you took today. Now the thing has value outside of the park, which is the entire point. Currently people buy these use them in the park.. then either throw them away or put them in a drawer and buy a new one the next time the go (talking tourist that goes every 3-5 years, not residents etc).

Magic bands currently also have no value outside of the park (outside collectors market)

 

[Nottamus]

has to have a Siri equivalent voice too—-

“You just walked past fish & chips. You know you want fish and chips, make a legal U turn”

“Oh wait- nachos are right ahead, you need nachos”.

“Btw, it’s 1:54pm and 90 degrees or something”

 

[CaptainAmerica]

it really wouldnt it could all be on the watch face.. just like most activity trackers now. You realize you can get a fitbit knockoff at walmart with heart rate sleep alarms apps etc etc etc for 10 dollars... which means they are probably making them for less than a dollar.

This is cheap technology. So for Disney to just have an accelerometer which isnt going to drain your battery and a clock face which uses a miniscule amount of energy. Remember we had digital watches for years that told the time that lasted years on a very small cr2032 battery if not smaller (which is super old tech).

All you would need to sell these is say it now has a watch face and also shows how many steps you took today. Now the thing has value outside of the park, which is the entire point. Currently people buy these use them in the park.. then either throw them away or put them in a drawer and buy a new one the next time the go (talking tourist that goes every 3-5 years, not residents etc).

Magic bands currently also have no value outside of the park (outside collectors market)

You seem to think they need to have perceived value outside of the parks in order to sell. They don't. They're going to sell like crazy even without those features, and if that means a guest throws them out or loses them in between trips and has to buy a new one on their next trip, even better (for Disney).

Disney doesn't want to sell you one of these, they want to sell you ten of them.

 

[ppete1975]

You seem to think they need to have perceived value outside of the parks in order to sell. They don't. They're going to sell like crazy even without those features, and if that means a guest throws them out or loses them in between trips and has to buy a new one on their next trip, even better (for Disney).

Disney doesn't want to sell you one of these, they want to sell you ten of them.

You just like to argue for no reason i see. You win, yep dumb idea to spend no money and make a product better.

 

[pdude81]

You just like to argue for no reason i see. You win, yep dumb idea to spend no money and make a product better.

I don't see the point either. By your own admission they are cheap features anybody could get. And the more features you add to a product, the more points of failure it has. I just don't see any upside to it doing any more than identifying you and glowing. We already pay too much for only half that functionality.

 

[fvrs7189]

This could be a coincidence, but I just looked for the options I have for my August trip and there are only 3 MB available. The 50th, a white one, then the navy blue. No other options. I know at times, they are out of stock and will replenish when they get more, but are they really out of all the solid colors or are they depleting inventory to offer the new bands. Note these are the offerings for discounted MB with trip.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This could be a coincidence, but I just looked for the options I have for my August trip and there are only 3 MB available. The 50th, a white one, then the navy blue. No other options. I know at times, they are out of stock and will replenish when they get more, but are they really out of all the solid colors or are they depleting inventory to offer the new bands. Note these are the offerings for discounted MB with trip.

Supply chain problems, which is likely the same reason why we haven't seen MagicBand+ yet either.

MagicBand+ is not meant to replace MagicBand 2. They're supposed to be sold at the same time at different price points.

 

[Patcheslee]

This could be a coincidence, but I just looked for the options I have for my August trip and there are only 3 MB available. The 50th, a white one, then the navy blue. No other options. I know at times, they are out of stock and will replenish when they get more, but are they really out of all the solid colors or are they depleting inventory to offer the new bands. Note these are the offerings for discounted MB with trip.

The store itself (Googled not a link through Disney) only has Tinkerbell (passholder offering only), Dr Strange Limited Edition & Hawkeye when I just looked. Weird.

 

[DCBaker]

 

[Stupido]

lol the vaguest of teases, after this long? They should have just waited til they were ready to give actual details about features and a release date. Especially because people are in the planing stages for the rest of the year already.