Google Confirms It’s Acquiring Fitbit for $2.1 Billion

Nov. 1, 2019

Reports of Googlelooking to acquirepopular wearable company Fitbit made their way to the Internet earlier this week. Well, the rumors have been proven true. Google has today taken to itsofficial blogto confirm the acquisition of Fitbit, a move which it states will be helpful in furthering the Wear OS, as well as Made by Google hardware ecosystem.

James Park, the co-founder and CEO of Fitbitcommentson the acquisition,“Google is an ideal partner to advance our mission. With Google’s resources and global platform, Fitbit will be able to accelerate innovation in the wearables category, scale faster, and make health even more accessible to everyone.”

Fitbit’s team will now join Googleand most likely expand on Wear OS with Pebble’s software team (which Fitbit acquired last year) while also pivoting its Versa smartwatch into a ‘Made by Google’ product. The wearable maker, in its press release, adds that it’s going to remain platform agnostic (work both with Android and iOS) and preserve user security, as well as privacy.

“This agreement underscores our belief in how important wearable tech has become, and it’s also an exciting opportunity for Wear OS. We’re looking forward to collaborating with Fitbit to bring the best of our smartwatch platforms and health applications together and enabling our partners to build the next generation of wearables,”says Google’s Wear OS Product Manager, Sameer Samat in the blog post.

Even before today’s confirmation, Google’s move to acquire Fitbit has beenmocked by many. It’s being referred as “a way for Google to build a Pixel Watch” and then shutter Fitbit – like it has done several brands and products over the past few years.

We’re not trying to undermine Google’s ability to build hardware, but we sort of are. We sure are excited to see what Fitbit brings to the table – a smart wearable, controlled by Google Assistant, and providing health-focused features on par with the Apple Watch. I mean, if Google wants the much-rumored Pixel Watch to be a success, then it has to get the recipe (almost) right in the first go.