It's official! Google's offiially buying Fitbit for a sum hovering around $2.1 billion, the search giant's latest attempt to try and make a dent in the wearables market.
Google’s hardware chief Rick Osterloh released a blog post explaining how Fitbit's acquisition can help Google advance its ambitions for Wear OS and offer stiffer competition to Apple. Google seems to be particularly worried about WearOS' progress as a recent Counterpoint Research report shows how Fossil - the biggest player in Wear OS, saw a dip in market share.
The report also showed how Fitbit's managed to hold its own against the Apple Watch over the past four quarters and even managed to pip WearOS-powered devices in terms of market share.
Osterloh also talks about how this sizable investment will ensure that more 'Made by Google wearables' come to the market. Most importantly for Google, the acquisition could help the company extends its “ambient computing” hardware strategy, through which the company aims to be a part of users’ lives wherever they are.
“By working closely with Fitbit’s team of experts, and bringing together the best AI, software and hardware, we can help spur innovation in wearables and build products to benefit even more people around the world,” Osterloh said in the post.
“Google also remains committed to Wear OS and our ecosystem partners, and we plan to work closely with Fitbit to combine the best of our respective smartwatch and fitness tracker platforms,” he added.
Aleviating privacy concerns, Osterloh also mentioned that, with wearables, Google will “be transparent” about the data they collect and why that data is collected. Google will not sell personal data to anyone and Fitbit health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads either. Fitbit users will also be given the choice to review, move, or delete their data.
