As you may know, Google announced that the company had entered an agreement to purchase Fitbit for for a teensy tiny $2.1 billion. This news was shared over Google’s blog – they had said that they had seen an opportunity to invest even more in a Wear OS.
It makes sense for Google to bid for Fitbit. Mainly because the Google Wear OS hasn’t been the best in the last few years. Whilst the company introduced Android Wear to the Wear OS rebrand, the hardware didn’t spark excitement.
As well as this, Google’s VP of Wear OS had published a blog post saying that five years ago, wearable tech was a new and promising market. He also said that the Fitbit team have built a great health and fitness experience that is loved by people all over the world. So we can see why Google wants to claim Fitbit as their own.
Unlike Google, Fitbit’s hardware has been seen as consistently great whereas the FitbitOS has been a little behind. What this means to Google is a question that has gone unanswered. It may be because Google wants to use the Fitbit design / hardware to create a new OS that’ll help the company get ahead of the competition.
Fitbit’s Own Press Release
Fitbit published a quote from the CEO and co-founder, James Park:
“More than 12 years ago, we set an audacious company vision – to make everyone in the world healthier. Today, I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved towards reaching that goal. We have built a trusted brand that supports more than 28 million active users around the globe who rely on our products to live a healthier, more active life.
Google is an ideal partner to advance our mission. With Google’s resources and global platform, Fitbit will be able to accelerate innovation in the wearables category, scale faster, and make health even more accessible to everyone. I could not be more excited for what lies ahead.”
Some Negatives
The news of this merger have left many Fitbit users worried. This is because Google may be able to access their most intimate health information. The tech giant will be able to know the number of steps, the person’s breathing patterns and even more. A little creepy, right?
Google has already got a collections of information on people already. For example, your location and what you like to search / watch. As well as this, people have advertisement profiles created about them based on their data – gender, age, interests and more.
Some people have stated over Twitter that they had thrown their Fitbit into the trash. Someone else has said that they intent to sell the fitness tracker.
If you want your data deleted from Fitbit’s (Google’s) servers, you can delete your account off of Fitbit’s website. Your data linked with the account is said to be permanently deleted after a seven-day grace period. If you’re in the EU, Fitbit is legally required to delete your data under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – this went into effect in 2018.
Some people are supportive of this merger whereas others (like above) don’t agree. Despite this, I am curious to see what Google will do in the future. Create a newer Wear OS?
