It had been rumored for months now that Google and Fitbit were engaged in some soft of money-talks. Now putting all speculations to rest, Google has announced that it has initiated the process to acquire Fitbit for a whopping USD $2.1 Billion.
This move makes Fitbit part of the Google acquisitions hall of fame. Along with showing that Google is now getting serious about wearables and wants to have an impact on the future of wearable technology.
It’s an open secret that Google isn’t big in personal electronic hardware. Therefore by acquiring a company that is, Google is trying to push Andriod’s WearOS. To raise and challenge the dominance of iOS-driven Apple Watch in the wearables-industry.
The Sorry State Of WearOS
Google has been struggling in the wearables industry for a long time now. One of the prime reasons for that is the fact that people do not enjoy using WearOS. Until recently WearOS was stuck with a clunking and slow UI that iOS blew out of the water.
Google, in order to remain a part of the future of wearable technology & industry, moved fast and added a certain degree of interoperability between WearOS powered wearables and the iPhone. They also revamped the Google Fit application and made the overall UI faster & reliable thus bettering the UX.
Personal Data Goldmine?
Another quintessential reason for the acquisition is the fact that Fitbit has a vast number of users, 28 Million users to be precise. These users have clocked in hours of different physical activities, along with the type of sleep they have and the meals they eat.
As the world grows more interconnected the future of wearables in healthcare technology is bright and Google knows that. Although Google has taken steps to ensure user-data privacy, it is undoubted that Google with its supreme AI capabilities empowered with all this user-data will shape the future of wearable technology.
The Legacy Of Pebble
Pebble was the company that started the craze of wearable smartwatches, thus it is not surprising to see the influence of Pebble on the Fitbit smartwatch designs and operations system.
For a company that is now, defunct Pebble has had a tremendous influence on the future of wearable technology for a long time. But now it is time for that influence to fade, as it makes the older design philosophy of Pebble has made Fitbit’s OS somewhat outdated.
This is where Fitbit desperately requires the help of Google to inject them with a new design philosophy and rejuvenate its brand.
Dominance Of Apple
One of the stark reasons for Google to acquire Fitbit is to strongarm through its personal-electronic hardware deficit. This also leads us to believe that we might soon see a Google Pixel-branded smartwatch in the market.
The fact that WearOS is struggling in the wearables-industry is an open secret now. Apple has 25.8% of the wearables market share, which is the largest any one single company has. Following current trends, the future of wearable technology seems increasingly iOS dominated.
With this acquisition, Google wants the same thing it did with Nexus and eventually Pixel devices. That is to create a gold standard for Android-based wearables experience.
Our Take
With this acquisition of Fitbit, Google has shown that it means business and won’t let Apple & iOS dominate the future of wearable technology.
As Google becomes more serious to push WearOS towards its users, businesses all around the world would need to develop suitable services and products to fit a wearable-ecosystem. Therefore making the partnership between brands and premier PWA and Native Android application design and development agencies more important.
