Say goodbye to Fitbit...

kltaylor

(Source)

It's official: Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google is buying fitness tracker and smartwatch company Fitbit (NYSE:FIT) for $2.1 billion. The deal, announced on Nov. 1, validated rumors that first surfaced on Oct. 28.

The pairing is a smart match for both tech companies. Mainstream manufacturers have been mostly unwilling to design hardware for Google's wearables operating system, called Wear OS. Meanwhile, Fitbit makes great hardware, but it's struggled to win market share within the smartwatch arena. Google brings much-needed marketing firepower to the table, while Fitbit brings a respected brand name that could bring Wear OS to the center stage.

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Marc

RIP....  Google's records with hardware acquisitions are not anything to be upbeat about.  

Pooh

I fear for the sanctity of the users data.
One wonders as well what the future is for the brand - since WearOS is Google's platform of choice. Was this to remove a competitor, or just to own it?

VioletChepil

Oh no. I've just bought one a few months ago. I do wonder what will happen too. 
Probably my guess would be so they don't have to build from scratch and also get some market share.
I'm not too familiar with the wearables market. 

Marc

@VioletChepil, I wouldn’t worry, it takes google some time before they make changes and yea, they are looking to compete with Apple and their own offerings have been lackluster.
@Pooh, they have stagnated on wear os development so maybe with the talent from Fitbit they can kickstart it? Plus they get some decent in house hardware development. 

kltaylor

All very good points to bring up and to be wary of.  Speculation in the technical world mimic what @Marc said in reference to its lifespan.  

When I was in the market initially for a smartwatch, I was looking to use the heart monitor specifically (since getting old sucks).  I first tried a Fitbit, albeit this was back in their infancy stages, but I digress, some of their reported features for the device didn't work as intended.  I had spent hours on the phone with their support to try to recover from that, but eventually, I exchanged my Fitbit for a Pebble.

I LOVED the Pebble.  I was insanely sad to see it fold as a company.

These days I wear a Fossil watch to match this ole fossil (bad dad joke) but it could be worthwhile to look into Fitbit again if Google, with their tight relationship with Chromebooks and Androids, maybe they fixed some things that I didn't like about that particular brand.

(EDIT: Fixed typos)