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Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

reuters.com

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Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#261

Post by steve_adams_86 »

cdiddy2 wrote: post #134
toasterlovin wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Garmin has surprisingly good offerings in the smartwatch space too

My Garmin watch has been excellent for 5 years now. It records runs accurately, stays out of the way, and holds a charge for several hours of running. It didn't cost much more than a Fitbit, but it connects with a chest band, records steps well, reminds me to move around, etc. I guess the only disadvantage is that it's kind of ugly.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#262

Post by sailfast »

At what point are regulators going to start denying these bids on anti-trust grounds? I suppose there might be enough players in the "wearables" space but I'd imagine this purchase could potentially be denied because of the risk to personal data being further consolidated? I have no idea if the laws on this actually reflect the problems in the market at this point.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#263

Post by [deleted] »

zamalek wrote: post #141
not2b wrote: 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.

If you own a Fitbit (I do), it's great news. Fitbit have done an unmatched job of destroying the device already. I was honestly considering buying a different device already. They don't support Spotify, or really any music app except the one (which I don't remember). Their subscription service provides no real value at all. Their devices track heart rate and nothing else. They simply don't innovate at all.

[deleted]

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#264

Post by jjoonathan »

insulanus wrote: post #200
zamalek wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you own a Fitbit (I do), it's great news. Fitbit have done an unmatched job of destroying the device already. I was honestly considering buying a different device already. They don't support Spotify, or really any music app except the one (which I don't remember). Their subscription service provides no real value at all. Their devices track heart rate and nothing else. They simply don't innovate at all.

Oh man. I'm definitely on both sides of the fence. After Fitbit bought Pebble, they made the ecosystem poorer. The Pebble tech team was stronger than the team that absorbed them. Fitbit customer service is excellent, but their warranty is bad, and their build quality seems poor. My Fitbit Ionic (about $300) stopped working one month after the 12 month warranty ran out, and they offered me a 20% discount on my next pu…

> My Fitbit Ionic (about $300) stopped working one month after the 12 month warranty ran out

My Fitbit Ionic stopped working 6 months into the 12 month warranty and they flaked on the warranty anyway.

Many Ionics were secretly sold without the manufacturer's warranty.

The problem turned out to be a shorted capacitor. My secretly-warranty-less ionic was sold during the Great Capacitor Shortage. Coincidence? Maybe. I doubt we'll ever know.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tpQ8CmtaZjJGCEUo6

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#265

Post by ofcrpls »

bonestamp2 wrote: post #255
VectorLock wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fitbit has done a pretty good job of that already. See the spO2 sensor on the Charge 3 that has been inaccessible since the device launched.

Apple has allegedly had spO2 monitoring capability on Apple Watch for years too without making that function available in production. I wonder if there's a similar reason for this. I mean, I can buy a $12 spO2 monitor on Amazon, and most clinics seem to use that exact model... why not let my fitness device do it too?

It is due to the regulatory purview on the difference of calling something a "vitals display device" vs a "vitals monitor"

Source: Spouse, who worked on a field spO2 monitor at her first job and has since spent the next decade in the medical device regulatory industry.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#268

Post by citilife »

darkwater wrote: post #139
toasterlovin wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> Because all I see out in the real world are Apple watches and Fit Bits. Which world? USA? Apple Watch doesn't work outside the Apple ecosystem, and Apple doesn't own the majority of the smartphone market. Stats for Europe, 2019 https://www.gizmochina.com/2019/10/21/smart-wearables-market... Apple was pretty stable, Fitbit lost half its market share (to Garmin, looks like), the rest was more or less stable.

> Apple doesn't own the majority of the smartphone market

They don't have to? Most people who pay for an iPhone already have bought into the ecosystem and are willing to pay a lot for Apple items (ear pods). Those people also would likely be more willing to buy wearables, so it's quite likely that they have a large stake in the wearable market (as your data shows). Most people who buy phones don't have the resources to buy accessories (like a wearable).

Even what you linked was 40% Apple, that's a huge market share for wearables (which is what you see in public). Not the majority, but probably enough that a person can say "it's all all see in the real world". Especially, if you are from a more affluent area, where locally it may be the majority.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#269

Post by JakeTheAndroid »

gniv wrote: post #142
climb_stealth wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was really happy with the Fossil hybrid watch that I got for christmas two years ago. The bluetooth worked perfectly which I would never had expected. Whilst the Fossil app is great the actual bluetooth reliability has gone downhill with the latest updates and I'm wondering whether it is related to talent moving to Google.

I'm thinking of getting a hybrid too. If you were to buy today, would you still go for the Fossil?

I like my Fossil Q Explorist well enough. I have the Gen 3 which doesn't have the heart rate monitor or GPS, but on the whole it's a good watch. If you want a smart watch that can do all the smart stuff and last a couple days, I'd look elsewhere. Fossil watches don't have the best battery life. The Gen 4 says like 2 days on standby a day with usage. I get about 6-8 hours tops actually using the watch (looking at notifications quickly and swiping them away, looking at the time, changing songs on my phone), and the charge time is like 3 hours. They suggest it can do sleep tracking, but I've never tested it because I need to charge it every night.

If you don't mind having a watch that is mostly for doing watch things, and then charging it every night - Fossil is nice. But I would look elsewhere if you want a smart watch for daily use doing "smart" things.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#270

Post by jschwartzi »

Alupis wrote: post #237
zamalek wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you own a Fitbit (I do), it's great news. Fitbit have done an unmatched job of destroying the device already. I was honestly considering buying a different device already. They don't support Spotify, or really any music app except the one (which I don't remember). Their subscription service provides no real value at all. Their devices track heart rate and nothing else. They simply don't innovate at all.

Also Fitbit still doesn't have support for chest-strap heart rate monitors! They said a long way back they were looking into releasing their own - fine. But still no chest-strap! Chest-strap is required for serious (and safe) training near your peak heart rate - and it's a ton more accurate for regular exercise too. All the other fitness watches support pretty much any chest-strap you can buy. They've standardized...…

Fitbit isn't really made for serious fitness enthusiasts. If you look at its feature set and design, it's trying to give the average person a way to get data about how fit they are in the range between not fit and average. The sleep tracking, water tracking, automatic workout tracking, and other simple features are more for the average person than for a marathon runner. So it doesn't surprise me that they don't support chest straps because most people don't want to do zone training, they just want to know whether they're getting exercise that will EG condition their heart.
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