Google Completes Fitbit Acquisition

Google announced its plans of acquiring Fitbit last November 2019 but it needed approval of multiple regulatory authorities. Google officially completed the acquisition of Fitbit Inc. for $2.1 billion as announced by Google’s Senior Vice President of Devices and Service Rick Osterloh last Thursday – January 14.

With the rise of wearable technology, the wearable tech industry has beaten Swiss watches on their own game. At present, there are close to 30 million Fitbit users. Apple, on the other hand, shipped 30.7 million Apple Watches just last year. No wonder Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google has taken interest in a Google Fitbit merger.

Fitbit Inc in Summary

Eric Friedman and James Park founded Fitbit in March 2007 following their dreams to advance technology in fitness and health. Pioneering on wearable fitness technology, Fitbit’s automatic, wireless syncing, and open application programming interface became the benchmark on its kind. Fitness deviates from that hour of weightlifting in the gym or attending spin classes, it’s the overall health that you could monitor all the time.

Fitbit released their first activity tracking device with health metrics and sleep technology in 2009. Since then, Fitbit has kept on innovating with the goal of helping you with your overall health. No one can even remember not having a fitness tracker – it’s like shoes.

Remember your gym coach’s order to track your day and night? Well, Fitbit provides you real-time information about your activities, sleep, pulse, and exercises, and makes the journaling for you. Today, the most-advanced Fitbit, the Fitbit Sense, features stress management, high and low heart rate notifications, and a skin temperature sensor. It also interprets your sleep quality and tracks your sleep stages. Lastly, it monitors your Sp02 levels.

Advancing a little bit more, Fitbit’s ECG app is FDA approved such that:

“Fitbit has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as Conformité Européenne (CE)marking in the European Union, for its electrocardiogram (ECG) app to assess heart rhythm for atrial fibrillation (AFib), a condition that affects more than 33.5 million people globally.”

This means that physicians may rely on Fitbit’s ECG in their patient’s later check-ups.

Fitbit, primarily for fitness, doesn’t lag behind its smartwatch features. Take your calls on your wrist with its built-in speaker and microphone. Receive your message notifications on text or different apps. It also boasts a 6-day (or more) battery life. Fitbit’s definitely a front-runner in wearable tech.

Google and Wear OS

Wear OS is a fitness smartwatch that syncs all your Google apps in one go. It features access to all your Google apps such as Calendar, Pay, Maps, and Gmail. Like other smartwatches, it features to text and other apps’ notifications.

What separates Wear OS is its design which is not solely reliant on Google. They offer quite a variety of brands and styles including Kate Spade, Puma, Movado, Michael Kors, Skagen, Armani, etc. A cooler feature is the same automatic response Google offers in emails that  may be accessed in your Wear OS.

Google developed Wear OS as its signature fitness tracker and smartwatch. However, its sales aren’t doing as well as Fitbit and Apple. Hence, users believe they took the shortcut to merge with Fitbit.

Doubts on the Google Fitbit Merger

The Google Fitbit merger concerns Fitbit users on their data security. Alphabet Inc is connected with 200 companies. Google swears by keeping the data secured. Even Fitbit assured the public that it was part of the deal. Google specified that it will not use the data collected from Fitbit for Google ads. Yes, those targeted ads may be annoying but what’s not keeping Fitbit users on their toes isn’t just that.

Health data are very personal to each user. Having to monitor your whole day in real-time is like those old school journals we keep to ourselves. The risk of sharing the behavioural patterns and health data worries Fitbit users that third-party businesses may use the data collected in changing what they offer. For example, health insurance companies may adjust premiums accordingly while pharmaceutical companies could research and create profitable drugs according to health patterns gathered by Fitbit.

Users doubt Google’s data privacy following Google’s antitrust probes. However, laws only give us either the agree-and-use-me or disagree-and-forget-about-me option when it comes to technology.

Google’s antitrust probes

According to U.S. Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen: Google “has maintained its monopoly power through exclusionary practices that are harmful to competition.” Google, allegedly, monopolises on “general search services, search advertising, and general search text advertising.”

Google holds 88% of the U.S. search market and owns more than 70% of the search ads market. Google, allegedly, denies competition to challenge its dominance.

Nonetheless, Google’s stock barely moved. Google reached its highest close at 2.7% following the antitrust probes proving that investors aren’t shaken by such probes.

Google Fitbit Acquisition Has Been Completed

Alphabet Inc completes the Google Fitbit Acquisition. The Google Fitbit merger situates Google as a direct competition of Apple having the same accessories apple has to offer. Fitbit’s CEO James Park, in a press release, happily announced Fitbit joining Google. According to him,

“This is just the beginning because becoming part of the Google family means we can do even more to inspire and motivate you on your journey to better health. We’ll be able to innovate faster, provide more choices, and make even better products to support your health and wellness needs.”

While this is true, the Google Fitbit acquisition furthers the technology Fitbit has now. The hybrid Fitbit and Wear OS bring Google Fit’s platform and Fitbit’s health and fitness technology into evolution and users can’t wait for the next Sense, Versa, and Inspire models. People are waiting for the next dashboard Google Fitbit has to offer.

While some wonders what will happen to Wear OS. Many still believe that Google will merge the most effective functions of both Fitbit and Wear OS so we don’t see Wear OS phasing out – just yet.

Most likely to go in Fitbit

1. Versa 2’s Alexa

Fitbit features Amazon’s AI Alexa in Versa 2, this is most likely to go and be replaced by Google Assistant.

2. Fitbit Flyer

As a top-notch fitness gear, Fitbit also launched the Fitbit Flyer which is their earbuds but has a minimal conversation about it and also not doing well in sales so this would most likely go.

Google Fitbit acquisition and data privacy

In the same PR, Park assures that Fitbit will maintain its strong data privacy and security protections. Similarly, Google’s SVP Osterloh reiterates that Google’s commitment to protecting users’ health information. He also emphasised the separation of Fitbit’s data from the Google Ads data.

This proves users’ doubts about what Google would do with Fitbit’s data. Nonetheless, Fitbit joins Google and we’re just waiting for the data privacy policy’s revised terms.

Final Thoughts

Now that the Google Fitbit acquisition is final, users await the innovation that Google plans for Fitbit. Now that Google and Fitbit teamed up, a faster innovation awaits through Google’s wide reach. Users hope for more FDA-approved health apps and smarter sensors for accurate tracking and monitoring. But along with excitement worries some on the data privacy and security that could circulate among Alphabet Inc’s companies or other third-party businesses.

Share your thoughts! Are you more excited than worried?