The Premise. On nearly any trip in public, it’s getting to the point where it would be uncommon not to see somebody wearing a fitness tracker. Getting healthy is a priority for thousands of people, and using technology to do so is a no-brainer these days. But in addition to encouraging good habits, there’s one habit that many people could stand to break in becoming healthier.
The Product. The Quitbit is a pocket-sized tracker for how many cigarettes a person smokes in a day. It, along with its proprietary app, can log how many cigarettes have been smoked, how long it’s been since a cigarette, and can even disable features until a threshold has been met. It’s able to do all of these because the Quitbit is also a flip-up lighter that functions like a car cigarette lighter, with heat coils. The device lasts a week without being recharged and can upload smoking data to social media, either in terms of how fewer cigarettes have been smoked in a week, or how much money has been approximately saved by reducing smoking.
The Pitch. The Quitbit’s campaign is extremely professional and confident, from the design of the product itself down to the supplemental materials available on its Kickstarter and Web site. The entire brand’s attitude is one of helping, not shaming, and that’s part of what makes this product so appealing for those that are cognizant of what smoking does to the human body. Quitbit needs $50,000 to get funded for prototyping, tooling, certification, and manufacturing.
The Perks. The Quitbit lighter and app are available to backers who pledge $79, and will be out at the end of this year. The lighter/tracker can be engraved with a personalized touch for $149.
The Potential. There’s a great amount of potential here for people who want to quit smoking by degrees, using hard data to do so. Because the Quitbit doubles as a lighter, it’s something that no smoker would want to be without, and the social aspects will get those who want to see their friends and family lead a more healthy lifestyle get involved with messages of encouragement. The design is simple, intuitive, and sharp, and the concept is unique enough to make this a great tool in the fight to quit smoking for good, perhaps then being passed on to a friend who can make use of it.