Can Fitbit Be An Apple-Like Innovator? This Early Investor Thinks So

Fitbit Inc FIT had a hugely successful debut on the NYSE on Thursday, with shares opening up over 50 percent from the IPO price. However, the question investors are asking is if the company can sustain itself going forward, while it faces competition from the tech biggies.

Jonathan Roosevelt, Roosevelt Capital chairman and an early investor on the Fitbit IPO, was on CNBC recently to answer that question.

Marketing: An Opportunity To Stay In Front

"What Fitbit recognizes is they have to continue to establish brand leadership," Roosevelt began. "And they see marketing as an opportunity to stay in front. But they have, I think, a dominant market share –, 85 percent of this wearable category they are in [...] they want to keep it that way."

Related Link: Fitbit CEO Says Company Is More Than Just Wearables

Management Team Will Make It Survive

Roosevelt was asked about the possibility of Fitbit surviving in the long run if the wearables space gets disrupted by a very large player like Apple Inc. AAPL. He replied, "There’s absolutely the potential to be disrupted and again I come back to the management team.

"I used to work with James Park (Fitbit’s CEO) in a company and he is the best strategic mind I have ever met in technology. And I am confident he’ll stay in finding, continue to innovate and release new products.

"They have released a lot of products, and they continue to stay in front and, I think, they’ll continue to do that."

Related Link: JMP Securities: Fitbit's Biggest Competitor Is Apple, But There's Good News

Much Like Apple

On Fitbit’s potential to innovate in the long run, Roosevelt said, "I think of them as a hardware-software company, much like Apple. And you have seen Apple’s innovation; it has been unbelievable. We wouldn’t have predicted they would dominate the music industry as they did years ago.

"I think we will see similar things from Fitbit. I think they think of themselves as a health company, but also as a hardware-software leader," Roosevelt concluded confidently.