June 11, 2025
PEDOMETERS
In 2006, Apple and Nike partnered to release the Nike+iPod, which added an accelerometer to the popular music player that allowed tracking a user's activity, but like many Apple products, it was never embraced because it was ahead of its time. Three years later, a startup tech company named Fitbit released its first activity tracker, and revolutionized the exercise industry. Through gamification which corresponded to developments in the video game industry, along with strategic partnerships with corporate wellness programs, Fitbit quickly became the leading solution for activity tracking. And the device's goal became even more popular: 10,000 steps per day. By 2014, Fitbit owned 67 percent of the step-tracking marketplace. The next year, Apple released the Apple Watch, and began carving into Fitbit's market share. But the 10,000-step mantra had been firmly implanted into the cultural zeitgeist, and remains to this day. It is not a number based on science or experimentation; it's a number based on superstition and marketing.
The invention of the pedometer is credited to Swiss inventor Abraham-Louis Perrelet. In 1780, Perrelet modified one of his previous inventions, an automatic watch which was designed to wind as a person walked. But it would take 180 years to improve on that concept. In conjunction with the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the Japanese clockmaking company Yamasa produced the first commercial pedometer on the recommendation of a physician who warned that Tokyo citizens were becoming too sedentary. According to Japanese tradition, the number 10,000 had long been a symbol of abundance. In addition, the Japanese character for 10,000 loosely resembled a high-stepping figure with outstretched arms. Combining all of these things, the device was called Manpo-kei, which translates to "10,000 steps meter." The product was an immediate success, and over the next decade a culture of walking, including clubs devoted to walking, grew all over Japan, and everyone had the same goal: 10,000 steps every day.
It was this same goal and outcome that Fitbit's founders decided to copy when they released their product in the United States. And the outcome was identical. Walking continues to be one of the most popular forms of exercise in the United States, and 10,000 steps is the most frequent daily goal found quoted in everything from sports magazines to medical journals. The goal was never empirically tested or validated; it was just very easy to remember and seemed to make sense. In the years since Fitbit's rise and fall, several research projects have been conducted to verify the claims of the benefits of 10,000 steps per day.
A 2019 study revealed that a significant target for decreasing overall mortality is 4,400 steps, and the benefits of such exercise max out around 7,500 steps. Anything more than that has a negligible effect on mortality. That does not negate the many other benefits of more exercise, but it emphasizes how little, and much more manageable, changes can positively affect one's health. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine found that simply using a pedometer could increase an individual's activity level by 27%, an average of 2,100 steps per day. While that may not seem like a lot, it effectively reduced participants stroke mortality by 10% and their risk of cardiovascular death by 7%. But the most revealing data comes from a more recent study from the University of Southern Denmark. Researchers set out to test the actual benefit of 10,000 steps per day. They verified that taking up to 10,000 steps every day reduced the risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease. But more importantly, they uncovered that walking speed and intensity were far more important than mere step counts.
So 10,000 steps turns out to be a nice daily goal, even if it was completely arbitrary at the start. But rather than simply counting steps, a better walking workout is one that is shorter and brisker. Despite being absorbed into the Google universe in 2021, Fitbit not only helped all of us to focus on getting 10,000 steps every day, it launched the activity tracker market. Even today, 38 million people still use Fitbit once a week, and the company boasts 128 million registered users. The global pedometer market surpassed $2 billion in 2022. Clearly some people are still trying to get their steps.
SOURCES
- "How Fitbit Started the Wearables Craze That Got Us All Moving" from Wired
- "Nike and Apple Team Up to Launch Nike+iPod" from Apple
- "Watch Your Step: Why the 10,000 Daily Goal is Built on Bad Science" from the Guardian
- "Association of Step Volume and Intensity With All-Cause Mortality in Older Women" from the Journal of the American Medical Association
- "Pedometers Help People Stay Active, Stanford Study Finds" from the Stanford University School of Medicine
- "Prospective Associations of Daily Step Counts and Intensity With Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Incidence and Mortality and All-Cause Mortality" from the Journal of the American Medical Association
- "Fitbit Revenue and Usage Statistics" from Business of Apps
- "Global Pedometer Market Report 2023" from Business Wire
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