Live data from Hacker News

Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

reuters.com

101–110 of 538 posts

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#101
post #97

Fitbit is damaged goods. Just read https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Ionic/Would-you-buy-Fitbit-I... - I own one of these along with many unsatisfied customers. Google is buying technical debt.

I love my Fitbit Versa, every product has unsatisfied customers.

Anyhow, I was actually hoping Microsoft would buy them, and make an assistant agnostic device that could run Google, Alexa or Cortana.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#102

> Fitbits’ stock shot up almost 30 percent after the first rumors surfaced. In recent months, the company’s stock often traded below $3, down from close to $48 shortly after its IPO in 2015. Today, after the announcement, it went up to around $5.20. Good lord, must the acquisition offer feel like a relief? Surely, Fitbit wouldn't do a Groupon now. The article fails to mention Fossil, but Google recently did acquire t…

> Xiaomi, Huawei, and Huami have really taken the wearables market by storm

You link to a press release. Are there actual sales numbers to back that claim up? Because all I see out in the real world are Apple watches and Fit Bits.

> I hope the rumoured Pixel Wearable isn't comically expensive like its Phone counterparts.

The Apple Watch Series 3 is available on apple.com for $199.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#103

I would think that Google's first choice was Garmin. In my personal opinion, they have better watch products. It was reported last month that Fitbit engaged Qatalyst for a sale. I wonder who leaked the news to Reuters, which did not mention a price: was it Qatalyst, hoping to start a bidding war?

I am a happy user of their minimal Vivofit 2 watch. No heartbeat but some nice sleep metrics and the usual step metric. Most important: the battery means no USB charging for a year+; I pretty much never take it off. The occasional sync to my phone and we are good.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#104

Anybody know a good way to get your data out of fitbit? I've got a year's worth of decent data and it's obviously at risk if google shutter it. Also I don't want them to have it - so I guess I'm in the market for something independent.

you can download it from fitbit, though the daily activity is structured in a hostile json format.

> hostile json format

This is new. Is "hostile" referring to a data format that has been created to be as un-portable as possible? Feels like a more accurate description would be to just saw "poorly designed format" as you cannot know their intent (unless they published their intent of course)

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#105
post #75

Ah nooo please. Anyone but google. I love my Fitbit charge 3 and was thinking about replacing my Fitbit scale because my original model just died after 6 years. If google is going to buy Fitbit then I’m out.

100% so annoying - going to have to throw out my fitbit stuff if this goes through

And this is exactly why any consumer device that relies on the cloud is a bad idea. I would never buy a Ring doorbell or Nest camera for the same reason - I'd always look for a version that can be used locally so I can host the software myself and don't need to depend on a third party that may go bust, or get aquihired and shutdown.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#106
post #91

Very bad news for anyone who has a Fitbit device. Google tends to destroy any "smart" devices they acquire; first they tie it more closely to their ecosystem, too much for comfort, then they remove features, then they get bored and neglect it, then you have a brick.

There is not much "feature" in a Fitbit. You can't even correct simple numeric values of an exercise, such as the ran distance or the bodyfat percentage of the scale reading.

You're both right. Unfortunately.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#107
post #70

I don't really get what Fitbit offers to Google...seems like they could easily build from scratch what Fitbit currently offers. And the Fitbit brand doesn't seem particularly strong right now...

> And the Fitbit brand doesn't seem particularly strong right now...

It's the only wearable brand other than Apple Watch that has any traction whatsoever with consumers.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#109
post #91

Very bad news for anyone who has a Fitbit device. Google tends to destroy any "smart" devices they acquire; first they tie it more closely to their ecosystem, too much for comfort, then they remove features, then they get bored and neglect it, then you have a brick.

Yeah. I agree. Normally I’d think they’d improve things but after dropcam, I’m less enthusiastic. The consolation is that they’re not going after Garmin, so there is that.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#110
Was annoying Fitbit started charging for more information on sleep. Paying for details that was included, now they want you to pay a monthly fee. If it was additional details maybe, but to cripple the reports just for profit, is shady as fuck.
Post reply on HN