Watch out Fitbit and Apple Watch, Amazon has entered the chat | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

You’ve seen them on wrists and fingers everywhere — at the gym, in the office, on the subway.

Smartwatches and fitness trackers have become the quiet uniform of modern life.

For many, they track steps. For others, they serve as sleep monitors, heart rate checkers, or reminders to stand every hour.

But despite their popularity, most of these devices do the exact same thing. And frankly, they’ve started to feel…redundant.

Whether it’s an Apple Watch, a Fitbit, or a Garmin, the core experience hasn’t evolved much over the past few years.

Sure, there are better sensors and more polished apps. But the function is nearly identical: collecting health data and feeding it back to you in yet another dashboard you’ll probably stop checking.

What wearables haven’t done, at least not well, is make your life easier in the moment.

That may be why one small company decided to build something different.

And now, a major tech giant just announced plans to acquire that company, marking a bold return to a space it once gave up on.

That company is Amazon. And the startup it’s buying is called Bee.

Amazon’s new AI gadget could be a problem for Apple Watch, Fitbit.

Image source&colon; Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Amazon acquires Bee, an AI wearable startup built for daily life

Amazon confirmed this week that it will acquire Bee, a San Francisco-based startup behind a $49.99 AI-powered wristband.

Bee’s device is sleek and screenless, but packed with purpose.

It uses onboard microphones and generative AI to listen to daily conversations — like work calls, casual chats, or even errands shouted across the room — and then distills that information into summaries, reminders, or to-do lists.

Think: a wearable that doesn’t just track your health, it helps you manage your life.

In a LinkedIn post, Bee CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo described the vision as “truly personal, agentic AI.”

“We imagined a world where your life is understood and enhanced by technology that learns with you,” she wrote.

Amazon spokesperson Alexandra Miller confirmed the acquisition but didn’t share financial details.

The move comes as Amazon expands its AI ambitions with projects like the shopping assistant Rufus and a revamped Alexa voice assistant.

It also marks a second swing at wearables after Amazon discontinued its Halo fitness tracker in 2023.

This time, though, the angle isn’t fitness…it’s frictionless productivity.

How Amazon’s AI wearable could disrupt the wearables market

Apple and Fitbit have long defined what wearables are supposed to do.

Track your steps. Nudge you to stand. Alert you when your heart rate spikes.

But those features haven’t changed much in the past five years, and they haven’t solved a bigger problem: information overload.

Bee offers something different.

Its core value isn’t movement tracking or health metrics; it’s saving time and promoting mental clarity.

Instead of keeping you glued to your screen, it wants to take tasks off your mind.

That kind of AI-assisted memory could appeal to students, professionals, parents, and anyone juggling a busy life.

And because it’s currently priced at just $49.99, it lowers the barrier to entry significantly.

By comparison, the Apple Watch SE starts at $249. Fitbit’s latest models range from $100 to $300.

This isn’t just another gadget — it’s a rethink of what a wearable should be.

With Amazon backing it, Bee now has the infrastructure to scale, and the resources to improve.

If Apple, Google, WHOOP, and Meta weren’t already watching, they are now.

And with OpenAI, Humane, and others chasing similar hardware ambitions, the AI-on-your-body race is officially on.