Even though the Jawbone UP3 is still not widely available that doesn’t stop the company from announcing its successor.
For the latest model — which honestly should’ve been known something like “UP3 Pay” — Jawbone has teamed-up with American Express to enable mobile payments with its the wearable device. Under the deal, eligible U.S. American Express Card Members can tap to pay with the new Jawbone UP4 fitness tracker anywhere Amex contactless payments are accepted in the U.S.
The Jawbone UP4 will be available later this summer for $199.“We’re delighted to partner with American Express to launch UP4, our most advanced and stylish tracker that’s small enough to wear 24/7,” said Travis Bogard, vice president of product management and strategy at Jawbone. “They provided the innovative and forward-thinking approach needed to create this new experience, combined with a sophisticated and robust payment system, and a wide range of supported merchants.”
The UP4 can be quickly described as UP3 + NFC where the latter part is included to make mobile payments possible. Otherwise, we are looking at the same UP3 band that has all of the latest sensors to allow for advanced sleep and activity tracking, as well as heart health monitoring.
In order to get started paying with their wrist, users will have to connect their Jawbone and Amex accounts in the UP app, and take it from there, tapping to pay like it’s nobody’s business. Actually, they will have to wait for another few months since the Jawbone UP4 tracker won’t be available before this summer. Then, it will retail for $199, which is some $20 more than the UP3.
But that’s not all. Jawbone has also announced the more affordable UP2 model, which replaces last year’s Up24 band. It lacks heart rate tracking, but it has a similar design, the same 7-day battery life, and the same sleep- and activity-tracking features. The UP2 costs $100, and is readily available from Jawbone.com and Amazon, with Best Buy retail stores getting it starting April 19.
Like the Up3, the Up2 is a US-only product for now; international availability is slated for “later this year.”
