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>If this is a reason for acquisition, then why wouldn't G*gle wait until they were "killed" so they could come in and buy their business for pennies on the doll

>If this is a reason for acquisition, then why wouldn't G*gle wait until they were "killed" so they could come in and buy their business for pennies on the dollar? Because what Google wants to buy is their marketshare and existing userbase. I very much doubt fitbit has any tech or products google couldn't make themselves in a few months. The longer fitbit sucks compared to their competition the lower that becomes.

halfdan 6y ago
This, and they want to hire the talent that built the product. If Fitbit were already a sinking ship for too long most senior folks would have left.
- at-fates-hands 6y ago
  Great point. Hard to continue developing a product when the most talented people in the company have gone elsewhere already. They need the human capital in order to make sure it stays afloat and they get the requisite knowledge transfer. Then its anybody's guess what will happen. Google's track record of buying technology and then doing something better with it is not encouraging at all.
  - triceratops 6y ago
    > Google's track record of buying technology and then doing something better with it is not encouraging at all. Err...what? Earth, Maps, Docs, Waymo, Android, YouTube, WebRTC, Flights, Deepmind all come from acquisitions.[1] 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Alphabet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitio...
    - kiwijamo 6y ago
      They haven't done much better with many of these. And I suspect these would also have succeeded independently of Google.
ohgodplsno 6y ago
> very much doubt fitbit has any tech or products google couldn't make themselves in a few months. Considering how absolutely dreadful Google's hardware (pixel line, pixel watch) is nowadays, and how unfinished all of their software is, no, Google would not be able to make any of that in a few months.
mtgx 6y ago
> Because what Google wants to buy is their marketshare and existing userbase And we should care, why? If anything we should want Google to build its own competitor.
IgorPartola 6y ago
Hahaha I literally laughed out loud at this. Google making products. Have you seen how they make products? They have killed more physical products than they have delivered. They discontinue them more frequently than an average person throws out a napkin. Their first gen products are usually overpriced trash (Google Glass? Nexus Q?). If Google could pump out electronics with the speed and quality of someone like Anker or Amazon they’d be buying half of Europe for cash right now. I don’t pretend to know why they can’t but empirical evidence shows that it takes them several years and at least a product generation to put out something useful. For them to put out a fitness tracker or a smart watch in a few months that would be remotely competitive with the Apple Watch is just not in the cards.
- wlesieutre 6y ago
  They nailed the Nexus 7, but that was a while ago (2012 and 2013) EDIT - never mind, Asus made both of those
  - jsheard 6y ago
    All the Nexus devices were made by third parties, it's when they switched to Pixel branding that they started designing them in-house.
  - 29083011397778 6y ago
    Were you thinking of the 2012 Nexus 7 with the poor-quality NAND that went bad within a couple years, rendering the tablet useless? Or the 2013 that had phantom/unregistering input due to (IIRC) general build-quality and flex issues? Asus did make both, but I'm not sure either was as good as you recall, sadly.
    - spaetzleesser 6y ago
      The Nexus 7 was way ahead of the competition at the time. It was fast, had a great display and cheap. I used mine for 6 years before it stopped working. Unfortunately google didn’t build on its success.
    - 6y ago
jakereps 6y ago
>Because what Google wants to buy is their marketshare and existing userbase. Personally, I'm curious how that worked out for them. The announcement of this purchase, and how they handled Nest, is what made me stop using my Fitbit.
nradov 6y ago
Google also wanted the Fitbit patents for IP litigation protection.

halfdan 6y ago

This, and they want to hire the talent that built the product. If Fitbit were already a sinking ship for too long most senior folks would have left.

at-fates-hands 6y ago
Great point. Hard to continue developing a product when the most talented people in the company have gone elsewhere already. They need the human capital in order to make sure it stays afloat and they get the requisite knowledge transfer. Then its anybody's guess what will happen. Google's track record of buying technology and then doing something better with it is not encouraging at all.
- triceratops 6y ago
  > Google's track record of buying technology and then doing something better with it is not encouraging at all. Err...what? Earth, Maps, Docs, Waymo, Android, YouTube, WebRTC, Flights, Deepmind all come from acquisitions.[1] 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Alphabet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitio...
  - kiwijamo 6y ago
    They haven't done much better with many of these. And I suspect these would also have succeeded independently of Google.

ohgodplsno 6y ago

> very much doubt fitbit has any tech or products google couldn't make themselves in a few months. Considering how absolutely dreadful Google's hardware (pixel line, pixel watch) is nowadays, and how unfinished all of their software is, no, Google would not be able to make any of that in a few months.

mtgx 6y ago

> Because what Google wants to buy is their marketshare and existing userbase And we should care, why? If anything we should want Google to build its own competitor.

IgorPartola 6y ago

Hahaha I literally laughed out loud at this. Google making products. Have you seen how they make products? They have killed more physical products than they have delivered. They discontinue them more frequently than an average person throws out a napkin. Their first gen products are usually overpriced trash (Google Glass? Nexus Q?). If Google could pump out electronics with the speed and quality of someone like Anker or Amazon they’d be buying half of Europe for cash right now. I don’t pretend to know why they can’t but empirical evidence shows that it takes them several years and at least a product generation to put out something useful. For them to put out a fitness tracker or a smart watch in a few months that would be remotely competitive with the Apple Watch is just not in the cards.

wlesieutre 6y ago
They nailed the Nexus 7, but that was a while ago (2012 and 2013) EDIT - never mind, Asus made both of those
- jsheard 6y ago
  All the Nexus devices were made by third parties, it's when they switched to Pixel branding that they started designing them in-house.
- 29083011397778 6y ago
  Were you thinking of the 2012 Nexus 7 with the poor-quality NAND that went bad within a couple years, rendering the tablet useless? Or the 2013 that had phantom/unregistering input due to (IIRC) general build-quality and flex issues? Asus did make both, but I'm not sure either was as good as you recall, sadly.
  - spaetzleesser 6y ago
    The Nexus 7 was way ahead of the competition at the time. It was fast, had a great display and cheap. I used mine for 6 years before it stopped working. Unfortunately google didn’t build on its success.
  - 6y ago

jakereps 6y ago

>Because what Google wants to buy is their marketshare and existing userbase. Personally, I'm curious how that worked out for them. The announcement of this purchase, and how they handled Nest, is what made me stop using my Fitbit.

nradov 6y ago

Google also wanted the Fitbit patents for IP litigation protection.