Google acquires Fitbit in US$2.1 billion deal

Global technology giant Google has announced that it is to acquire wearable company Fitbit in a US$2.1 billion deal.

In a blog announcing the news, Google Senior Vice President of Devices and Services Rick Osterloh said that the Fitbit purchase is “an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS as well as (to) introduce Made by Google wearable devices into the market.”

Under the deal, Fitbit will be joining Google, with a separate press release issued by Fitbit, advising that company will still take privacy for health and fitness data seriously, noting that “Fitbit health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads.”

With Google having largely failed to break into the wearables market with its Wear OS platform, the acquisition will give Google a much stronger foundation to build on for future Android-integrated wearables devices.

The company’s strong focus on fitness tracking could also be integrated into Google’s existing Google Fit apps, offering Google a solid alternative to the Apple Watch’s deep fitness tracking integration with the iPhone.

The Fitbit purchase follows Google’s acquisition in January of smartwatch technology from Fossil based on technology that Fossil acquired when it bought wearable maker Misfit back in 2015.