Google acquires Fitbit (2019), Fitbit acquires Pebble (2016)

[GeoTommy]

https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/07/pe...ing-to-fitbit/

Quote from a different TechCrunch article:

...watch maker Citizen was interested in purchasing Pebble for $740 million in 2015. This deal failed and before the launch of the Pebble 2 Intel made an offer for $70 million. The CEO, Eric Migicovsky refused both offers. Our source said that Fitbit is now paying between $34 and $40 million for the company and is “barely covering their debts.”

[huja]

Going to be a lot of shake up in this space in the near future - Smartwatches incorporating more fitness-tracker functionality . . Fitness-trackers trying to morph into smart watches . . .Traditional watches trying to find a place in the new landscape. I suspect it'll look a lot like when PDA's became obsolete due to the arrival of smartphones and the survival of the fittest which has been going on in the smartphone market the last five years or so.

My wife and I are currently wearing Polar GPS sports watches and using the Polar Balance scale but I don't see how a small player like Polar will be able to compete with Apple and Garmin.

[dumbdonkey]

i could be wrong but i thought polar is much bigger than apple and garmin in sports/activity tracking?

[huja]

i could be wrong but i thought polar is much bigger than apple and garmin in sports/activity tracking?

In sports/fitness, bigger than Apple, probably smaller than Garmin but unless it partners with someone bigger, it can't compete long-term.

[huja]

*sad trombone*

https://consumerist.com/2016/12/08/y...ium=socialflow

[Jishan]

It's unfair, my friend bought a Pebble last October. He still got the Warranty and all, but....

They should have announced it before they do such thing.

[GeoTommy]

Google buys Fitbit for $2.1 billion

[East_coast]

Google buys Fitbit for $2.1 billion

Imagine what they can do with your health and fitness data...

[kimwy66]

Interesting, I wonder if they will do the link up between Pixel phones and fitbit the same way the Apple have. But first it would be good to see some accelerated development on fitbit.

[GeoTommy]

Google says it won’t use your Fitbit data to target you with ads. But what else will it do?

Google says it will not use Fitbit health and wellness data for its ads, but that doesn’t address other important questions about how Google will handle Fitbit users’ data privacy. Could your Fitbit data be used to say, influence your Google search results? Or to suggest restaurants in your neighborhood? To build new health products? To make calendar invite suggestions?

But if that data is also connected to the broader set of information Google tracks — what you search for online, what emails you send, where you go — that could present a pretty comprehensive profile of a person’s existence.