“More than 12 years ago, we set an audacious company vision – to make everyone in the world healthier. Today, I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved towards reaching that goal. We have built a trusted brand that supports more than 28 million active users around the globe who rely on our products to live a healthier, more active life,” said James Park, co-founder and CEO of Fitbit. “Google is an ideal partner to advance our mission. With Google’s resources and global platform, Fitbit will be able to accelerate innovation in the wearables category, scale faster, and make health even more accessible to everyone. I could not be more excited for what lies ahead.”
“Fitbit has been a true pioneer in the industry and has created terrific products, experiences and a vibrant community of users,” said Rick Osterloh, Senior Vice President, Devices & Services at Google. “We’re looking forward to working with the incredible talent at Fitbit, and bringing together the best hardware, software and AI, to build wearables to help even more people around the world.”
Fitbit pioneered the wearables category by delivering innovative, affordable and engaging devices and services. What’s interesting is that the wearable offers users an immersive experience from the wrist to the app, designed to help users understand and change their behavior to improve their health. Because of this unique approach, Fitbit has sold more than 100 million devices and supports an engaged global community of millions of active users, utilizing data to deliver unique personalized guidance and coaching to its users. Fitbit will continue to remain platform-agnostic across both Android and iOS.
Earlier in August this year, Fitbit announced that it was supplying Singapore residents with free fitness trackers in a collaboration with the Singapore government. Singaporeans who registered, would receive a free Fitbit Inspire band if they committed to paying SGS$10 a month for a year for their latest offering; the Fitbit premium coaching service. The program should be rolling out now.
Fitbit products are sold in 39,000 retail stores across 100+ countries around the globe. Powered by one of the world’s largest databases of activity, exercise and sleep data and Fitbit’s leading health and fitness social network, the Fitbit platform delivers personalised experiences, insights and guidance through leading software and interactive tools, including the Fitbit and Fitbit Coach apps, and Fitbit OS for smartwatches. Fitbit’s paid subscription service, Fitbit Premium, uses unique data from its users to deliver actionable guidance and coaching in the Fitbit app to help achieve personal health and fitness goals of users. Fitbit Health Solutions develops health and wellness solutions designed to help increase engagement, improve health outcomes, and drive a positive return for employers, health plans and health systems.
In its press statement, Fitbit added that consumer trust is paramount and that privacy and security guidelines have been a part of Fitbit’s DNA since day one, and that will not change. Fitbit assures that it will continue to put users in control of their data and will remain transparent about the data they collects and why. The company assures that it never sells personal information, and Fitbit health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads.
The transaction is expected to close in 2020, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Fitbit’s stockholders and regulatory approvals.
Qatalyst Partners LLP acted as financial advisor to Fitbit, and Fenwick & West LLP acted as legal advisor.
We researched a little more information about Alphabet, the holding company of Google and found a message from its CEO, Sundar Pichai speaking on its third quarter 2019 financial results, “I am extremely pleased with the progress we made across the board in the third quarter, from our recent advancements in search and quantum computing to our strong revenue growth driven by mobile search, YouTube and Cloud,”.
“We’re focused on providing the most helpful services to our users and partners, and we see many opportunities ahead.”
“Our businesses delivered another quarter of strong performance, with revenues of $40.5 billion, up 20% versus the third quarter of 2018 and up 22% on a constant currency basis,” said Ruth Porat, Chief Financial Officer of Alphabet and Google. “We continue to invest thoughtfully in talent and infrastructure to support our growth, particularly in newer
areas like Cloud and machine learning.”
Exciting days ahead for the Fitbit brand.
Source: AsiaFitnessToday.com News Network
Fitbit and the Fitbit logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fitbit, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Additional Fitbit trademarks can be found www.fitbit.com/legal/trademark-list. Third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
