The wearable market continues to heat up, but the Apple Watch remains heavily dominant. According to the latest report from Strategy Analytics, Samsung saw excellent growth in Q3 2019 with its wearables as Fitbit saw a slight increase as well.
Google this morning announced that it was acquiring Fitbit for $2.1 billion. Speculation that the company was up for sale started last month, and it’s now emerged that Facebook was also an interested suitor.
After reports last week, Google has confirmed this morning that it will acquire Fitbit for the sum of $2.1 billion…
Last month, reports first emerged that Fitbit was considering a sale and Google’s parent company was tentatively floated as a possible candidate. Reuters this morning is reporting that Alphabet has made an offer to acquire the wearable company.
This has been a surprisingly busy week for the smartwatch and wearable industry. The history of the “Pixel Watch” was chronicled, while we learned that Google is not releasing a smartwatch at its hardware event next month. In addition to the Apple Watch Series 5 launching today, a report revealed that Fitbit is considering “whether it should explore a sale.”
The wearable market is continually growing each year with new smartwatches, headphones, and fitness trackers. Today, IDC has posted an update on wearable market share, detailing huge growth from the likes of Samsung and Huawei thanks to products such as the Watch GT and Galaxy Buds that still sit behind Apple on the whole.
Google Cloud and Fitbit this morning announced a new collaboration that sees the wearable maker use the former’s servers to store data. Beyond moving infrastructure backends, Fitbit is taking advantage of another Google Cloud for Healthcare service to better allow for data collaboration.
It’s been well over a year since Fitbit took over Pebble, and in the time since, the company hasn’t done much with smartwatches that show off what Pebble brought to the table. However, that’s changed today with the arrival of the Fitbit Versa, and it’s looking like an excellent option for Android users…
Over the past few days, we’ve seen announcements for new smartwatches from Fitbit and Samsung. These latest wearables are shaping up to be some of the best options yet from each company, and in that same breath, possibly two of the best smartwatches for all of 2017. Neither the Fitbit Ionic or Samsung Gear Sport are powered by Android Wear, but in all honesty, that might be a good thing.
After Fitbit purchased Pebble last year, many anxious fans awaited the company’s next fitness-focused device that would ideally incorporate the features loved by the Pebble community. That day has come as Fitbit this morning unveiled the Ionic. While it may not be a Pebble replacement, it is the company’s first real smartwatch.
If you were to buy a smartwatch right now, would you purchase a Fitbit Ionic over an Android Wear device?
Earlier this month, full device renders for Fitbit’s first-ever smartwatch popped up online to give us a pretty clear look at what to expect from the wearable. Now that the official announcement has been made for Fitbit’s first smartwatch — the Ionic — the company is promising to deliver a wearable that offers powerful fitness-tracking and smartwatch features in one single package.
Following its acquisition of Pebble last December, Fitbit has been rumored to be working on its own smartwatch for a release at some point this year. We saw a couple renders of Fitbit’s latest wearable back in May, but a new batch of images from Wareable shines new light on what to expect from the upcoming smartwatch.
Fitbit purchased Pebble for its software assets late last year as the fitness maker works on building a “proper” smartwatch. The first images of that device have now leaked and show Fitbit mostly iterating on the design of its existing wearables.
After the company was acquired by Fitbit and immediately shut down, many Pebble owners have wondered what will happen to their current watches, such as the Pebble 2, Pebble Time, and more. Now, Pebble has confirmed what will happen, at least in the semi-short term.
After the demise of Pebble last week, many were disappointed to learn that the company’s forthcoming wearables, the Pebble Time 2 and Pebble Core, wouldn’t be hitting the market. Luckily, the company did confirm that backers of those products would be receiving full refunds, or so we thought…
Following several reports over the past few days, both Pebble and Fitbit have officially announced this morning that Fitbit will acquire Pebble’s software assets as the smartwatch maker is dissolved. The acquisition excludes all hardware.
Last week it was revealed that Fitbit was in talks to acquire and subsequently kill off smartwatch maker Pebble, much to the dismay of many Pebble fans. Now, a report from Bloomberg explains that Fitbit’s acquisition will spell the end of the company’s yet-to-be-released new smartwatch, the Pebble Time 2 as well.
According to a number of sources, Fitbit is on the verge of acquiring smartwatch maker Pebble. The deal comes as both companies are facing declining fortunes in the wearable industry. This acquisition will reportedly result in the Pebble brand being phased out.
Fitbit didn’t exactly impress the market when it tried to launch a full-blown smartwatch last month, its stock price falling 11% in response to the idea of the company seemingly attempting to compete with the Apple Watch. It may have better luck with its latest offering, a fashion-oriented fitness band called Alta offering five days of battery-life. The emphasis here is on style, the $130 unit available with both leather bands ($60) and stainless steel bracelet ($100).
The Fitbit Alta will be available for pre-order from tomorrow at Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Walmart and other retail sites, with shipping in March or April, depending on configuration.
Via Engadget
FitBit’s Charge HR fitness tracker has become one of the most popular of the company’s offerings in recent months, and now it’s back at just $110 shipped via eBay seller BuyDig (which has 99% positive ratings). That’s $40 off the retail price, and the lowest price we’ve seen…
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Black Friday brought some of the best Google-y deals we’ve seen this year, but the fun’s not over yet. Cyber Monday is now here, and — as usual — there are some great discounts to be found all across the web. We found some of the best Android picks earlier today, but here’s a bigger roundup of some of the best-of-the-best Cyber Monday deals you’ll find. For Google lovers and the not-so-Google lovers alike, you’ll almost surely find something in this roundup worthy of adding to your cart…
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Xiaomi sure knows how to make affordable products that punch above their price point. Whether it’s an Android-powered TV, flagship smartphone or a fitness tracker. The Chinese manufacturer just updated its range of fitness trackers with the second generation Mi Band, and it offers a lot for the money.
The updated Mi Band has many of the features you’d expect to find in a basic FitBit or Jawbone tracker. It’ll help you set goals via an Android app and calculate distance travelled, calories burned and track various exercises. It can track your sleep, and has a built-in vibrator motor to alert you when receiving calls. What’s more, if you manage to pick up the more expensive 99 yuan ($15 USD) model, you’ll get a heart-rate monitor too.
Design-wise, it’s a toned-down affair. It’s essentially a metal capsule containing all the necessary sensors and components inside a basic, flexible TPU wrist-band. No watch-face or screen of any kind, just a few LED lights. Saying that, it’s designed to be waterproof, drop-resistant and can last 30 days on a single charge. In other words: It’s not fancy, but has all the features necessary to be a great phone-connected fitness band and it lasts forever.
The 2nd gen Mi Band is launching in China on November 11, and the company hasn’t announced its plans to ship internationally. However, you should still be able to pick them up on specialist Chinese tech import sites in Europe and the US cheaply. A quick search on eBay reveals that the first gen Mi Band isn’t hard to get hold of, although you may have to pay a couple of dollars extra to get it. The 2nd gen will undoubtedly follow soon.
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