Fitbit was first introduced in 2009. In the beginning, it did not have an app for smartphones. Rather, it used to connect wirelessly, with a base station. That station had to be connected to your computer. At that time, the device used to display some of the information. The website of the Fitbit was the place where more detailed information was displayed. The people who were very keen on knowing about there daily workout results used to buy Fitbit.
This information ranges from heart calories burnt, to the number of steps walked. As time passed, its hardware as-well-as the software improved. Its popularity increased due to its subscription coaching, sleep tracking, social network, and most importantly, its mobile app. With all these features, it quickly became the most famous fitness wearables out there.
Fitbit
One of the largest software company, Google, is now planning to buy Fitbit. The reason behind this is that Google is aiming to merge the best of the Software for AI and the hardware. This will bring many innovative ideas for wearables and benefit people all over the world.
Fitbit also meets the requirements of Google for more ambient computing. By acquiring Fitbit, Google will now be more capable of getting more involved with the market in healthcare. They will also be able to compete with the likes of Apple Watch.
Even though the position of Fitbit has gone down in the last 3 years, it was the leader in the wearables for tracking activity before that. Fitbit served as an inspiration for many of the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connected wrist bands. The Fitbit evolved every year with the adding of better batteries, displays, and sensors. Nowadays, all the big tech corporations are focussing on building better health trackers.
In Earlier Days
When Fitbit introduced its first wearable fitness tracker in 2009, Jawbone, which was successful in building audio products, shifted their attention towards wearables. They named their first wristband, “Jawbone Up”. This device was used by plugging it in the audio jack of the phones for making the data of the band to sync with your phone.
Nike also introduced its fitness wearable called the “FuelBand” in the tear 2012. It was a polymer wristband and was aimed at motivating the person wearing it. And, slowly, many other companies followed this path. At the end of 2012, another company called the Basic Science, introduced its “B1 body monitor”. This was unique due to the optical heart rate sensors is included. It was a new addition, and no other band came with a heart rate sensor at that time.
Another startup, known as Lark, introduced the “Larklife band”. It could track the daytime activity as well as night time sleep. Mio Global, a Canadian company, introduced Mio Link at the beginning of 2014. It became famous because of the fact that it became one of the fitness trackers, which could show heart rate reading in real-time.
Google and Fitbit
After Google has bought Fitbit, there is a question that whether this is good for the market of personal health tracking. With this, there remain very fewer startups of wearables. Now, our data rests in the hand of some of the tech giants, like; Samsung, Google, Apple, and some well-known Chinese companies, whose operations are very opaque.
Google promises that it will not sell the personal information of the users to others. It also promises to never use the wellness and health data of the Fitbit for Google ads. Fitbit also promises to never use their data for the purpose of the Google ads.
However, some people may ask why Google has not built its own smartwatch? Well, Google has tried for many years, but with Apple Watch offering more attractive options, they decided to buy a good smartwatch company.
Fitbit has been offering some impressive products with their fitness trackers. And finally, in 2017, they entered the smartwatch market with the introduction of Ionic. But, it has been facing some tough competitions form Apple’s range of smartwatches. Hence, it will be good for both the companies to give their rival a good competition.
Reasons for Google to buy Fitbit
Other than giving Apple a tough competition, there are some other reasons for which Google has decided to buy Fitbit:-
Making a Pixel Watch
One of the main reasons for Google to go for Fitbit is because of the hardware. After acquiring good hardware, Google can now focus on building the software and the operating system for its smartwatch.
Fitbit’s design team comprises of some talented people. It also offers a very customizable package for the smartwatch, which can be as dressy or sporty as you will want them to be. All these features brought together can finally be the right recipe for making their Pixel Smartwatches.
Good features for fitness tracking
Fitbit became famous with the help of their fitness trackers. Due to their impressive fitness trackers, it made people set step goals and many other fitness goals. They also started to get obsessed about getting the perfect 8 hours of sleep.
The sensors it has placed within its wearables, and the algorithms it has used, can give an informative data about the fitness state you are in. This can also help you to get sleep much better. They also created apps which is the best among all the other apps out there.
By taking the intuitive feels and the core elements of the Fitbit tracking features, Google can rival the Apple smartwatches in a great way.
Good battery life
Many of the battery on smartwatches nowadays is quite unimpressive. Apple watches promises a time of 18 hours. Samsung watches will give you a battery life of 2 days. Other than these, none of the smartwatches will give a battery life of one full day.
But, Fitbit on the other hand, has managed to do quite an impressive job with 4-5 days of battery life. It has managed to give such a huge battery life even after using a high-resolution AMOLED screen.
With all these features, Google can create a great smartwatch that will be under the brand name of Google.
Conclusion
With such great features of the Fitbit smartwatches, Google will be able to make a smartwatch with its OS, which will give a tough competition to its rivals. The decision of Google to buy Fitbit will prove beneficial for both companies. By joining together, they have the potential to take the future of wearables to the next level.