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Fitbit is now officially part of Google

blog.fitbit.com

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Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#91

Post by pluies »

petercooper wrote: post #55
LibertyBeta wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Garmin Forerunner 45/245 might fit that bill. I'm wearing one right now and only notice it because its riding up on my wrist from my sweater. And as a bit of a metric nerd the Garmin data exports rock. Oh, and I haven't charged it in over a week.

After having seen how difficult it is to get an Oura in the UK, I might investigate this first - thanks!

Has something made it more difficult? :o I ordered a Oura ring in the UK about a year ago, and it was just a standard online purchase.

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#92

Post by ocdtrekkie »

brmgb wrote: post #80
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Given enough RAM This is the problem. A smartwatch should not be burning a lot of RAM. It has a battery the size of a dime, it should be doing very little with processor or memory. Wear OS is too bloated to the task.

> A smartwatch should not be burning a lot of RAM. Then again, the Gen 5 has 1Go and works fine. That's the same amount than an Apple watch serie 4/5. > It has a battery the size of a dime, it should be doing very little with processor or memory. Wear OS is far from perfect but that's more on the Snapdragon 3100. Samsung and Apple CPU are far better but they don't sell them. It's very much a chicken and egg situation…

Qualcomm isn't the only microprocessor vendor. And even if it was, imagine this call:

"Hi, Qualcomm, this is Rick Osterloh from Google. How much money would we need to invest for you to release a smartwatch processor that isn't garbage?" "Hey Rick. We'd need about $$$$." "Great, I work for a trillion-dollar company."

Which is to say, Google has the money and power to literally make what it wants happen, if it isn't happening, it's not reasonable or logical to blame another party. It is fundamentally a lack of commitment by Google to support their product line.

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#93

Post by tomComb »

I'm sure the sentiment here will be very much against this acquisition, but keep in mind that Fitbit was getting killed and would likely have gone out of business without this. It is tough for a company like Fitbit to compete with Apple & Samsung.

This should lead to more competition by making it possible for Fitbit to compete with Apple. If it doesn't then the acquisition was a failure for Google anyway - Fitbit's current market share is not acceptable for a company like Google.

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#94

Post by tomComb »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #64
PaulHoule wrote: post #3

Didn't they merge with Fitbit a long time ago?

They announced the acquisition in 2019 but it had to get regulatory approval first. A lot of people expected regulators to reject the acquisition. I consider it a massive failure of our governments that whilst acknowledging Google is a monopoly and engaging in antitrust cases against them, they also permitted Google to buy a multibillion dollar company that will expand their monopoly.

Should they really be penalized before being convicted?

Consider that Oracle claims that the regulatory actions around the world against Google are because they ran an extensive but secret lobbying campaign against Google to make this happen. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-23/oracle-fo... With enough lobbying dollars much is possible - isn't this a reminder to wait for the outcome before you convict?

Also, clearly the monopoly that is being suggested is not in this area - in fact, there is a danger in the dominance of Apple's watch and this should increase competition.

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#95

Post by Dig1t »

tomComb wrote: post #93

I'm sure the sentiment here will be very much against this acquisition, but keep in mind that Fitbit was getting killed and would likely have gone out of business without this. It is tough for a company like Fitbit to compete with Apple & Samsung. This should lead to more competition by making it possible for Fitbit to compete with Apple. If it doesn't then the acquisition was a failure for Google anyway - Fitbit's c…

The reason why it's difficult for them to compete with Apple and Samsung isn't readily apparent to me. There still seems to be a large hole in the smartwatch market for a GOOD Android-compatible smartwatch. There are a lot of options, but, to me, none of them are as polished or feature-heavy as the Apple Watch. It doesn't seem that one of these companies would need access to any special internal APIs or anything to be competitive, so I don't see what Google could add other than lots of money and SWE hours.

If Google wants to compete in this space they should have been forced to build it themselves. IMO letting Fitbit die would have been better for users privacy-wise.

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#96

Post by tomComb »

Dig1t wrote: post #95
tomComb wrote: post #93

I'm sure the sentiment here will be very much against this acquisition, but keep in mind that Fitbit was getting killed and would likely have gone out of business without this. It is tough for a company like Fitbit to compete with Apple & Samsung. This should lead to more competition by making it possible for Fitbit to compete with Apple. If it doesn't then the acquisition was a failure for Google anyway - Fitbit's c…

The reason why it's difficult for them to compete with Apple and Samsung isn't readily apparent to me. There still seems to be a large hole in the smartwatch market for a GOOD Android-compatible smartwatch. There are a lot of options, but, to me, none of them are as polished or feature-heavy as the Apple Watch. It doesn't seem that one of these companies would need access to any special internal APIs or anything to b…

I'm a long time Fitbit user and I think their products are great. From that perspective I'm just happy that they will survive.

> so I don't see what Google could add other than lots of money and SWE hours

That matters.

> IMO letting Fitbit die would have been better for users privacy-wise.

Have you seen what some companies do when they are on the brink of insolvency? They start firing engineers, best practices lapse, and they start monetizing everything.

And have you seen the EU data privacy conditions?

And finally, of the companies that could have bought them, which has a better record of keeping their users' data private then Google?

But also, as a Fitbit user, if I wanted all my data deleted I could do that, but I absolutely do not. I want it kept private, supported, and crunched by a company like Google to our mutual advantage.

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#97

Post by snowwolf »

Dig1t wrote: post #95
tomComb wrote: post #93

I'm sure the sentiment here will be very much against this acquisition, but keep in mind that Fitbit was getting killed and would likely have gone out of business without this. It is tough for a company like Fitbit to compete with Apple & Samsung. This should lead to more competition by making it possible for Fitbit to compete with Apple. If it doesn't then the acquisition was a failure for Google anyway - Fitbit's c…

The reason why it's difficult for them to compete with Apple and Samsung isn't readily apparent to me. There still seems to be a large hole in the smartwatch market for a GOOD Android-compatible smartwatch. There are a lot of options, but, to me, none of them are as polished or feature-heavy as the Apple Watch. It doesn't seem that one of these companies would need access to any special internal APIs or anything to b…

The killer feature for me which lead me to me switching away was Fitbit Pay. They just don't have the take up by banks that the competition (Apple and Samsung) have. Maybe that would have changed, but if they integrate Google Pay instead, I may switch back.

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#98

Post by thenewwazoo »

Dig1t wrote: post #95
tomComb wrote: post #93

I'm sure the sentiment here will be very much against this acquisition, but keep in mind that Fitbit was getting killed and would likely have gone out of business without this. It is tough for a company like Fitbit to compete with Apple & Samsung. This should lead to more competition by making it possible for Fitbit to compete with Apple. If it doesn't then the acquisition was a failure for Google anyway - Fitbit's c…

The reason why it's difficult for them to compete with Apple and Samsung isn't readily apparent to me. There still seems to be a large hole in the smartwatch market for a GOOD Android-compatible smartwatch. There are a lot of options, but, to me, none of them are as polished or feature-heavy as the Apple Watch. It doesn't seem that one of these companies would need access to any special internal APIs or anything to b…

> There still seems to be a large hole in the smartwatch market for a GOOD Android-compatible smartwatch.

In order for there to be a market, both sides have to exist: sellers and buyers. I'm not convinced Android users have the appetite for multi-hundred-dollar accessories the same way Apple users do, and given Apple's engineering skill and vertical integration, nobody is going to sell a smartwatch that's as good for less.

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#100

Post by josefx »

tomComb wrote: post #94
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They announced the acquisition in 2019 but it had to get regulatory approval first. A lot of people expected regulators to reject the acquisition. I consider it a massive failure of our governments that whilst acknowledging Google is a monopoly and engaging in antitrust cases against them, they also permitted Google to buy a multibillion dollar company that will expand their monopoly.

Should they really be penalized before being convicted? Consider that Oracle claims that the regulatory actions around the world against Google are because they ran an extensive but secret lobbying campaign against Google to make this happen. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-23/oracle-fo... With enough lobbying dollars much is possible - isn't this a reminder to wait for the outcome before you convict?…

> Should they really be penalized before being convicted?

People often land in prison before they are convicted. Also restricting a company that appears to be a bad actor to prevent additional harm on society seems only sensible.

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