As per the recent report by Reuters, Google’s parent company Alphabet is in talks to make the acquisition of Fitbit. The deal is still being negotiated and both the companies have not come to an agreement.
With Wear OS operating system, Google is active in the wearable market but it couldn’t compete well against Apple Watch despited getting support from several companies. Samsung could help but it avoided Wear OS in favor of its own Tizen operating system.
There have been several rumors of Google-branded Pixel smartwatch but there is not any to date. Google also paid $40 million to Fossil to acquire some smartwatch technologies but didn’t reveal much detail. Now the Fitbit acquisition could help the company in pushing its position in wearables space.
I hope Alphabet’s interest in Fitbit is not just for patents just like it did with Motorola. Fitbit has a considerable share in the wearable segment and has some good products. Google could use it to launch Pixel-branded smartwatches with advanced fitness features.
Google and Fitbit declined to comment on this report. After the rumors surfaced, Fitbit’s stock shot up almost 30%.
Alphabet is trying to increase its presence in hardware over the last few years. It acquired Nest to launch various smart home products, acquired Motorola for smartphone-related patents, acquired a major portion of HTC to launch Pixel smartphones and Pixelbook laptops. Now it is trying to push Wear OS platform.
