Do it, the Versa 2 should have google not alex.
Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit
331–340 of 538 posts
Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit
#332Good. Let them see if the quantum AI powerbots of Google can fix the sync issues.
Maybe now they'll fix a 3-year old Android bug that prevents simple BLE scanning from working after several weeks.
Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit
#333It will be interesting to see how Google uses the fitbit data. I could see them synchronizing a user's searches with their heartbeat information to try to gauge emotional response to topics.
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.
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 amazing and more about to the execs looking at amazing profit reports...
Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit
#334Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit
#335Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ugh... I get how Google's acquisition would make sense, but why does every company have to do everything? I know it's because of walled gardens and "integration" but it really sucks if you really like Fitbit because of some niche feature you're compelled to buy into the whole ecosystem. After watching what happened to Nest I don't see how any current owner would be excited. I saw a newer, lower priced version release…
Well in this case, Google kind of has to do something with wearables. Apple Watch is pulling people over. Unless you were suggesting in your comment that Apple should release the AW from the walled garden and allow it to work on Android? In that case, I agree!
> Apple should release the AW from the walled garden and allow it to work on Android
Basically. Sure, I'm generally biased towards Apple products, but it just seems like wasted effort they all develop their own phone, smart speaker, virtual assistant, watch, etc. I don't feel like its doing the traditional "competition making everyone better." Instead it feels more like a checklist of portfolio items.
I do see the value in integrating with your own stuff, but I just don't see these product categories improving that much. When any big company buys one of these smaller companies I feel like the wish is that they stay the same and ignore them. I can't really think of any of these cases where I've been happier at the result.
The best bet is probably something like Withings. It was acquired by Nokia in 2016 and sold back to the founder in 2018. My pre-2016 scale still works and connects great. Sure, we might not have these companies at all if they weren't acquired, but they also wouldn't have been built up the same way if their goal wasn't a big buyout.
Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit
#336It will be interesting to see how Google uses the fitbit data. I could see them synchronizing a user's searches with their heartbeat information to try to gauge emotional response to topics.
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.
Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit
#337Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit
#338Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit
#339It will be interesting to see how Google uses the fitbit data. I could see them synchronizing a user's searches with their heartbeat information to try to gauge emotional response to topics.
I'm pretty sure your proposal would cause every Fitbit user to switch to Bing
Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit
#340> Google’s parent company, Alphabet, made a bid to acquire Fitbit, a source familiar with the matter tells CNBC.
More like: the source "leaked" to create negotiation pressures...