When the Fitbit Ionic launched back in October, US users got access to the Pandora app, which allowed them to download playlists to the smartwatch and listen without a paired smartphone. The rest of the world... got nothing. But today, alongside the launch of its app store, Fitbit has announced that Deezer will be coming to the Ionic globally in 2018.
It's not set a specific date yet, but the app will be available to all Deezer subscribers and will let you sync your personalized playlists as well as your Flow playlist, which consists of recommended tracks along with your favorites.
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It will be able to hold up to 300 songs, Deezer North America VP Jorge Rincon told us, though sadly there's no inclination as to when in 2018 we'll see the app surface.
We've been anticipating this announcement for a while. Spotify talks seemed to break down earlier in the year, and Deezer was the only remaining service working outside of the US that seemed like a viable alternative. However, US Ionic owners will be able to use it too, meaning there are now two options for them to pick from.
"The dialogue has been going on for a few months between the two companies," Deezer North America VP Jorge Rincon told us. "It's truly a long term relationship and we'll continue to work with Fitbit."
But while it's competing with Pandora in the US, it's also up against Apple Music and Spotify when you look at the entire landscape of wearables. Rincon believes the Flow feature is the key weapon here. "It is certainly competitive in North America," said Rincon. "This is a global play. And we differentiate from Pandora by having a global footprint."
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By Hugh Langley
Now at Business Insider, Hugh originally joined Wareable from TechRadar where he’d been writing news, features, reviews and just about everything else you can think of for three years.
Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider.
Prior to Wareable, Hugh freelanced while studying, writing about bad indie bands and slightly better movies. He found his way into tech journalism at the beginning of the wearables boom, when everyone was talking about Google Glass and the Oculus Rift was merely a Kickstarter campaign - and has been fascinated ever since.
He’s particularly interested in VR and any fitness tech that will help him (eventually) get back into shape. Hugh has also written for T3, Wired, Total Film, Little White Lies and China Daily.