Google acquires Fitbit for $2.1 billion

A few weeks ago, it was rumored that Google was in talks over purchasing Fitbit, and as of yesterday (November 1st), the deal was completed. The company has just announced its $2.1 billion acquisition of the popular fitness tracker makers via a press release online.

The deal will mean that Fitbit will operate under Google, similar to how Nest did when it was bought out, and provide Google with greater opportunities to invest in and introduce their own smartwatches to the market. It could also mean that we see ‘smarter’ Fitbit devices, that can run Google’s wearOS that it currently distributes out to third-party manufacturers.

It’s a clever move by Google and will combine brilliant hardware with ever-growing software. It will compete directly with Apple’s Watch lineup, as Fitbit has been doing, and although it won’t overtake the numbers that Apple gets, users of Fitbit will increase gradually over the coming years.

Fitbit has also confirmed in a separate blog post that all user detail will “will not be used for Google ads” and stay private from the company’s products and services. Let’s hope they stick to this pledge – or both companies could lose thousands of customers.

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Ben Ward

Senior Editor, discussing everything Apple and supporting other writers and members of Apple TLD's team of volunteers.

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