4 ms·

I'm a long time Fitbit user and I think their products are great. From that perspective I'm just happy that they will survive. > so I don't see what Google co

I'm a long time Fitbit user and I think their products are great. From that perspective I'm just happy that they will survive. > so I don't see what Google could add other than lots of money and SWE hours That matters. > IMO letting Fitbit die would have been better for users privacy-wise. Have you seen what some companies do when they are on the brink of insolvency? They start firing engineers, best practices lapse, and they start monetizing everything. And have you seen the EU data privacy conditions? And finally, of the companies that could have bought them, which has a better record of keeping their users' data private then Google? But also, as a Fitbit user, if I wanted all my data deleted I could do that, but I absolutely do not. I want it kept private, supported, and crunched by a company like Google to our mutual advantage.

breck 6y ago
Fellow long time FitBit user and agree with everything you said. Furthermore, I pay for FitBit Premium and would strongly encourage Google to always keep FitBit a paid product/service and never monetize it via ads. I don't have any expertise in this area, but my hunch from what I saw with Apple vs WhatsApp, is that in the long run sticking with paid products and not switching to Ads is better for success. Also, likely a lot harder to build up a base of paying users and if you throw that away would be a colossal mistake. Anyway, I'm not a business expert but am a passionate FitBit user and very happy about this acquisition because just like you I was worried for their survival.
IgorPartola 6y ago
Again, Apple has a much better track record than Google when it comes to privacy. I can’t believe I’m defending them here, but honestly they’ve been the only tech giant that hasn’t sold out every bit of your personal info they had to make a quick buck. I suppose Netflix might be the other one but (a) I don’t know for a fact and (b) they aren’t exactly the fitness brand.

breck 6y ago

Fellow long time FitBit user and agree with everything you said. Furthermore, I pay for FitBit Premium and would strongly encourage Google to always keep FitBit a paid product/service and never monetize it via ads. I don't have any expertise in this area, but my hunch from what I saw with Apple vs WhatsApp, is that in the long run sticking with paid products and not switching to Ads is better for success. Also, likely a lot harder to build up a base of paying users and if you throw that away would be a colossal mistake. Anyway, I'm not a business expert but am a passionate FitBit user and very happy about this acquisition because just like you I was worried for their survival.

IgorPartola 6y ago

Again, Apple has a much better track record than Google when it comes to privacy. I can’t believe I’m defending them here, but honestly they’ve been the only tech giant that hasn’t sold out every bit of your personal info they had to make a quick buck. I suppose Netflix might be the other one but (a) I don’t know for a fact and (b) they aren’t exactly the fitness brand.