Google will acquire Fitbit in $2.1 billion deal and direct challenge to Apple

[Zorro]

Source: Washington Post

FitBit on Friday announced it would be acquired by Google in a deal that values the smartwatch maker at roughly $2.1 billion.

The deal puts Alphabet in a race against Apple when it comes to tracking fitness and health data. FitBit’s stock had surged as much as 30 percent earlier this week on reports that Alphabet had put in an offer. The deal is expected to close in 2020.

Google will pay $7.35 a share for the fitness tracker, helping it advance its ambitions for wearable technology. The company does not make its own smartwatch.

FitBit’s stock surged 16 percent after the announcement.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/11/01/google-will-acquire-fitbit-billion-deal-direct-challenge-apple/

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Fitbit's devices are capable of monitoring your biometrics (heart rate, sleep durations/type, etc.). It is already a bit disturbing to know that this detailed personal information is available to commercial companies; it's not a stretch to see the government also getting access to this data for political purposes.

[hlthe2b]

1. So all my attempts to keep google from my personal information is now moot. They will have my fitbit

data.... All 5 1/2 years of daily data.

Hmmm. That is not coming across as a good thing...

[klook]

2. Another product I'll never get!

I’ve considered a FitBit, but Google is the kiss of death. I avoid almost all their products like the plague (YouTube is hard to give up!).

Maybe there’s another similar fitness tracker with acceptable privacy settings, but I’ll remain skeptical for now.

[dalton99a]

3. Google is as trustworthy as Facebook

[klook]

8. True!

I don’t use their “services” either.

[dalton99a]

4. Rest assured that your insurance company will know nothing about what you do every day

[iluvtennis]

6. + 1.

[at140]

5. I just bought BTMagic wrist watch for $23

It keeps track of steps during the day and miles walked, calories burned, it is a wrist watch, measures blood pressure, heart rate, sleep pattern, and helps locate my phone if I lose it in the house. My daughter bought the FITBIT gadget for $70 and it
does not do all the thing my wrist watch does.

[cstanleytech]

7. I hope this means they will start producing watches that are compatible

with Dexcoms continuous blood glucose monitor as that would make it much easier for me assuming of course the watches are affordable.

[docgee]

9. We are going to have to pass laws to secure our personal data.

First off Google or Facebook cannot own our data. I would suggest regulations that would encrypt and make anonymous personal data. I know they make a lot of money selling our data, but really, who cares. Fuck 'em. I'd pay for some cloud storage to have control over my data where they need permission to load it into their apps.