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Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

reuters.com

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Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#351

Post by nitrogen »

Bonooru wrote: post #341
kbenson wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope that's true. I suspect that if it is, it only is until one or two teams does it successfully and monetizes that outcome. Then it's open season. That's a trend in computing. It's forever too hard, until all of a sudden it isn't for a very select few and they do amazing things[1]. Then a year or two later everyone is doing it. 1: Amazing is relative, and in this case may be less about customers getting something…

Health data is scary because of HIPAA (and the equivalent in non-US jurisdictions) not because it's inherently special or hard to make sense of.

Is Fitbit location history covered by HIPAA?

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#352

Post by notatoad »

mattigames wrote: post #345
lrem wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who's taken the internal trainings a few times by now: NOPE. Health data is scary-scary and no team wants to taint itself with it, unless it's the core of the product.

It seems if they buy fitbit is because they are no longer really "scared" of it, they aren't going to buy it just to keep fitbit a completely separate product.

It's not like they don't already have health data. Google Fit exists and plenty of people use it - Any android wear devices, but also plenty of third-party devices feed into Google Fit. Any data they'll be able to get from Fitbit they can already get from Google Fit - acquiring Fitbit will just mean they'll have that same data for a whole bunch more people.

What they currently do with the fitness data they collect is probably a pretty good guidepost for what they'll continue to do with fitness data they collect.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#354

Post by solarkraft »

harikb wrote: post #344
fragmede wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> with nicer battery life Don't discount this feature on a fitness tracker. The most recent Apple Watches are better in this respect compared to the first one, but the battery life is still measured in hours, rather than days. The UX for a Fitbit as a smartwatch is honestly horrible. The Pebble acquihire prioritized watch apps, in (what I see as) a belief that watch apps are necessary to compete with Apple. Resources…

A watch that needs to be charged once in a few days is actually worse than one that could use a charge every night. Charge at night is a habit that can easily be adjusted to our daily schedule. btw Apple watch does last a full day (I meant 16+ hrs) with decent use, unless you are playing music out of it all the time or obsessively checking time/calendar. Only advantage of fitbit is that some models are easier to wear…

I want a watch that only needs to be charged once in a few days, because I want to wear it at night for it to track my sleep and wake me up and I could charge it while I shower (every 2 days, in case you're wondering).

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#355

Post by notatoad »

Sysreq1 wrote: post #279
ignoramous wrote: post #16

> 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…

How do you say, “That’s a bingo!” Google isn’t buying Fitbit to improve Fitbit, Google is acquiring a company to gain their experience in the wearables space to compete with Apple and Samsung. I suspect Google thinks AppleWatch is helping them erode the Android market share and/or preventing switchers from moving to Pixel.

>Google isn’t buying Fitbit to improve Fitbit, Google is acquiring a company to gain their experience in the wearables space

I imagine they're also interested simply as a defensive move: if they don't buy fitbit, maybe samsung or apple does.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#356

Post by rhexs »

remus wrote: post #350
Datenstrom wrote: post #343

I deleted everything Google and switched to iOS a few years ago so Google would have less of my data. Now they are going to get detailed location, activity, and sleep history for all of those years anyway. You really can't win can you. I bet there is no option to download my data and nuke what they have before this happens either.

> I bet there is no option to download my data and nuke what they have before this happens either. Are you based in the EU? If so then you can do exactly that under GDPR.

I’ve always wondered, how do they know if you’re in the EU? Can I change my address to somewhere in the EU and get my data deleted or will they check?

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#357

Post by solarkraft »

Jnr wrote: post #326
hobo_mark wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meanwhile my Pebble2 still holds a charge for a week after years or careless daily use...

My Pebble Time Steel from Kickstarter still works nicely and looks like new (I have changed the straps though). I take it swimming, it has been dropped multiple times, it has had some hard knocks but the metal frame protects the glass and it seems indestructible. I am also surprised that battery charge still holds almost a week. They did have great potential but apparently consumers didn't agree. And then they sold t…

I think consumers agreed. The company just seems to have been vastly mismanaged. I find it amazing that nobody is just copying it. Hell, Fitbit could sell exactly that model and have a winner on their hands (the Versa contains some insane mistakes).

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#358

Post by harikb »

bordercases wrote: post #347
harikb wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't always have to be about linking everything to everything. They (Android) needs a decent watch/health device, one that Google has some control over. As it stands today, lack of 'Apple watch' support really kills their Pixel/Android sales.

Considering that Google's primary revenue is through advertising, and digital advertising's two main problems are (a) identity and (b) context, yes, it is still very much about linking, even if they need to prop up smaller projects or loss-leaders to collect the appropriate data (the secondary value proposition acts as a stepping stone to the first).

the number of fitbit owners and

data and location from fitbit owners I get the point you are making, I am not denying there is value, but it is a stretch that it is all about data.

In fact, I have heard about companies who had ties with Fitbit to sell location data to third parties. I would much rather have Google be that arbitrator.

I don't work for Google or Fitbit.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#359

Post by spectramax »

salsadip wrote: post #312
spectramax wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This obsession of pervasive targeted ads, and A/B testing methods needs to stop. I have stopped using all google services except for search and YouTube. Apple Maps is fine now, if you need a free email account, you can get one on iCloud.com. Who are these soulless marketing execs that are OK with using this type of extremely personal health data!? There should be a moral objection, which evidently isn’t there. That’s…

I guess moral only exists for things which were a problem for a long time. Mass data collection is a relatively new thing. So morals around data collection don't really exist; ask the average person on the street how much they care about this. Result is those non-existent morals weren't able to be codified in law hence no wonder somebody is out there 'exploiting' this.

> I guess moral only exists for things which were a problem for a long time.

If we eliminate homicides in the world, our morals wont change about killing another person. Eliminating the problem or how long it’s been a problem has nothing to do with morality.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#360

Post by encoderer »

remus wrote: post #350
Datenstrom wrote: post #343

I deleted everything Google and switched to iOS a few years ago so Google would have less of my data. Now they are going to get detailed location, activity, and sleep history for all of those years anyway. You really can't win can you. I bet there is no option to download my data and nuke what they have before this happens either.

> I bet there is no option to download my data and nuke what they have before this happens either. Are you based in the EU? If so then you can do exactly that under GDPR.

The upcoming CCPA law will cover the GP here. Expect a self service portal for ccpa deletion in January for most major services.

Even if you do not live in California your request will likely be honored but of course I have no specifics about Fitbit.

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