{"id":27146,"date":"2019-11-01T15:11:46","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T19:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=27146"},"modified":"2019-11-27T16:22:33","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T21:22:33","slug":"google-acquires-fitbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2019\/11\/01\/google-acquires-fitbit\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Acquires Fitbit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rick Osterloh<\/a> (via MacRumors<\/a>, Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Today, we’re announcing that Google has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Fitbit, a leading wearables brand.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

Over the years, Google has made progress with partners in this space with Wear OS<\/a> and Google Fit<\/a>, but we see an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS<\/a> as well as introduce Made by Google wearable devices into the market. Fitbit has been a true pioneer in the industry and has created engaging products, experiences and a vibrant community of users. 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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Fitbit<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Consumer trust is paramount to Fitbit. Strong privacy and security guidelines have been part of Fitbit’s DNA since day one, and this will not change. Fitbit will continue to put users in control of their data and will remain transparent about the data it collects and why. The company never sells personal information[…]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Except, I guess, when they sell all of it to Google at once.<\/p>\n\n

Mike Wuerthele<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Multiple analysts say that Fitbit’s value has more to do with user data collection, more than hardware. The company has been making deals with insurance companies to bundle the product in with customer health offerings, and is trying to expand its revenue in a crowded low-end fitness tracking market, increasingly squeezed by the Apple Watch.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Dieter Bohn<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Fitbit is going to be part of Google’s hardware division, this is about Google getting smarter at making wearable hardware -- Wear OS is almost tangential to this deal from what I can tell.<\/p>\n

I stand by everything I wrote earlier this week when the Fitbit acquisition was just a rumor.<\/p>\n

Think of this like the HTC acquisition: it will make Google slightly better at making wearable hardware. But Fitbit doesn’t make processors.<\/p>\n

Buying Fitbit won’t help Google overcome Apple’s biggest smartwatch advantage\nIt’s the silicon, stupid<\/p>\n

….and Fitbit’s platform will need to be supported for 3? at least 3 years preferably much more alongside Wear OS. There’s also Google Fit.<\/p>\n

Basically this integration is going to take forever and there is a good chance it’ll be messy and involve a long Nest-esque falllow period<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Update (2019-11-02): See also: Hacker News<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Update (2019-11-27): Jason Perlow<\/a>:<\/p>\n

You’ll have to excuse my pessimism. I fully expect this to result in a total catastrophe for Fitbit’s employees, products, and customers. Just about everything Google has ever purchased has been discarded like garbage or has been completely devalued as a result of the company’s inability to successfully integrate acquired businesses into its culture.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

But questions remain: Does a “not invented here” mentality pervade Google? Will WearOS continue to be developed<\/a> in favor of Fitbit OS<\/a>? Plus, there’s the issue of the continued WearOS investments by Google’s smartwatch partners<\/a> -- if WearOS development at Google ceases, then developers will abandon it entirely. That would look very bad for Google indeed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Nick Heer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

There’s a common thread here: Google is acquiring massive amounts of deeply personal information, but it insists that you can trust it — the company promises that it won’t use this data for advertising purposes nor will it mix it with behavioural data it has collected about you.<\/p>\n

And you know what? I believe Google when it says that it won’t do that right now — I really do. But will it uphold the same promise in five years, or ten?<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Even if you believe that this collection of highly personal information is kept perpetually secret, why is it the case that companies that have a primary business of behavioural data mining are able to dabble in industries that necessarily require a privacy firewall? I think of this in much the same way that financial institutions in the United States were once prohibited from being in consumer businesses and<\/em> investment banking under Glass–Steagall.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Alex Sherman<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Scoop: Facebook was mystery Party A that bid against Google to buy Fitbit, sources say. Facebook made a best and final of $7.30, falling by five cents a share to Google. Facebook doesnt plan to bid again, one of the people said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rick Osterloh (via MacRumors, Hacker News): Today, we’re announcing that Google has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Fitbit, a leading wearables brand.[…]Over the years, Google has made progress with partners in this space with Wear OS and Google Fit, but we see an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS as well […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2019-11-01T19:11:55Z","apple_news_api_id":"ca64eed3-dc04-4b9a-b882-5a942964737a","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2019-11-27T21:22:37Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AymTu09wES5q4glqUKWRzeg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[66,101,25,1634,51,355],"class_list":["post-27146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-acquisition","tag-business","tag-facebook","tag-fitbit","tag-google","tag-privacy"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27146"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27426,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27146\/revisions\/27426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}