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Google pulls Fitbit from almost 30 markets
- bUtr3p3z 3y ago[dead]
- brianshaler 3y agoI just set up the Pixel Watch 2 that came with a discount when buying a Pixel 8 and Google pushed me to reactivate my 12 year dormant fitbit account and migrate it, so of course it's due to ride off into the sunset.
- StevePerkins 3y agoEvery so often Apple does something I don't like, or else I take a look at current iPhone prices, and I toy with the idea of switching to a Pixel for my next phone. But inevitably, within a week or two, Google will do something that makes me uncomfortable relying on them for any piece of hardware that I'm likely to keep for 3+ years.
- teolandon 3y agoThere are more options than those two. Pebble watches were built open enough to allow Rebble to get developed and let Pebble watches be used to this day, despite being officially unsupported. A lot of mainstream Android phones support LineageOS. A lot of older iPhones with older iOS versions can be jailbroken and used to this day with tweaks.
- meepmorp 3y ago> Pebble watches were built Were, past tense, being the operative word. If I don't already have one, the ability to put an alternative OS on a pebble watch, while cool, isn't particularly useful. I guess there's the android watch thing?
- beej71 3y agoI've decided that I won't pay Google any more money. But I do like their phones... So I'll be buying used. :)
- deaddodo 3y agoHonestly, the Pixel line has always been meh (in my opinion, of course). They built a ton of respect on the Nexus line, which genuinely was a decent set of phones; now they've squandered it on a bunch of overpriced and underspeced options. Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, OnePlus, etc all make great phones. You don't have to get a Google.
- jwells89 3y agoUnfortunately there are few options if you want a more “vanilla style” Android experience like the Pixel has, without significant OS customizations or pushing of me-too ecosystem apps/features. To my knowledge it’s mainly just Fairphone if you’re ok with not getting flagship specs and Sony if you’re ok with paying a bit more (but getting excellent camera controls in exchange).
- jsbisviewtiful 3y agoGoogle has truly tarnished their brand for some people. I don’t trust them at this point and am moving off their services periodically. Several products I’ve used, Google created or Google bought, were shut down unexpectedly and now I expect anything they touch to burn.
- voisin 3y ago"for some people" It is wild to think that there are still people loyal to Google. Just use their primary product - search - and tell me how anyone can not froth at the mouth in anger over the complete and total capitulation to the ad team? Seriously, fuck these guys and if you work for them, you're part of the problem.
- ulfw 3y agoThere's really no good reason to use Google for anything where there's competition. I use Google for Youtube (no competition), Search and Maps (not very competitive offers by MSFT and AAPL yet getting better every day while Google is getting worse). Have switched from Gmail to Hosted Exchange a decade ago and using iCloud for files, pictures and calendar/notes etc synching. Safari and Firefox for ad-less browsing.
- happymellon 3y agoI tried using Azure for hosting my email, it was an absolute trainwreck. They couldn't even do a mailing list, so that I could have a single email address for the kids school, etc, that emails both myself and my wife. The best they could offer was a shared mailbox, but it wouldn't go into my wife's inbox so not much point in that. Fastmail did a better job than that.
- bad_user 3y agoIf you want to get into Android, a safer bet for high-end devices would be Samsung. It helps if you have other Samsung devices, like TVs or Galaxy Watch. I have an S21 Ultra (2021). It's big and somewhat heavy, but it has 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of storage, a good camera, it will get 4-5 years of updates in total, and it's easily the best Android I had thus far. My last Google device was Nexus 6 and it was shit. The first device I got had screen issues. Changed it in warranty, and the replacement died just after the warranty was over. Pixels are not as appalling as Nexuses were back then, but from reviews on the web, it's not far either. Also, the default Google experience is shit too.
- hardwaresofton 3y agoYeah, except for Samsung being really interested in bloatware and not immune from the lure of surveillance economy cash (which is their right, whether I like it or not!). Weirdly enough I'd rather have close-to-stock rather than have essentially both Google and Samsung trying to monetize me. I run an Apple phone at this point, and I'm not going to lie, they're so far ahead in this respect (good if not overpriced hardware, build quality, coherent ecosystems, less reliance surveillance capitalism, interop between devices), that it is just really hard to consider Android. As much as I like the customization possibilities, more F/OSS-aligned OS & apps, etc of the Android ecosystem... It's hard to recommend it over Apple today.
- bad_user 3y agoNot sure what you mean by bloatware, but I prefer several Samsung apps over the Google ones. I prefer the Calendar app, for example because it allows me to draw on it with the pen. I also prefer Samsung's Calculator, Notes, Clock, and Health apps. I'd even prefer Samsung's Browser, which even has ads blocking, but I'm using Firefox. The preference for the pristine Google experience is absolutely weird, because Google is not Apple, indeed. On my phone, using Firefox with uBlock Origin, I go into ThePirateBay, download entire shows on my phone, then using VLC I stream them to my TV straight from my phone. There's nothing in Apple's offering that beats that for me. Mostly because Apple hates general purpose computing.
- ThePowerOfFuet 3y agoNew Pixels receive software updates for five years, and you can buy all the original parts from iFixit. Combine that with GrapheneOS and it's a pretty good long-term solution.
- CSMastermind 3y agoI've used Android phones since I bought the original Motorola Droid the day it came out. This year was the first time I seriously considered switching to an iPhone as I watch their hardware keep progressing while Android manufacturers just copy design and slip in terms of specs. Things like the Lidar sensor show that at least Apple is pushing their devices to do more. Yeah I hate that they eliminated the headphone jack, etc. but Android devices just copy those decisions anyway so they're really starting to feel less like a competitor and more like wannabe iPhones.
- lmm 3y agoSony still makes top-end phones with headphone jacks, SD card slots, and a camera that doesn't mangle your photos unless you ask it to. The Xperia line is pretty much the perfect phone for the HN crowd.
- matheusmoreira 3y agoThose phones don't have the hardware security features found on Pixels.
- lmm 3y agoWhat features are those and would HN types even want them?
- matheusmoreira 3y ago> would HN types even want them? I bought a Pixel just for GrapheneOS. Can't speak for anyone else. > What features are those There's a rather exhaustive list here: https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices Some that stand out to me: > Hardware memory tagging > Isolated radios (cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, etc.), GPU, SSD, media encode / decode, image processor and other components > Weaver disk encryption key derivation throttling provided by secure element
- matheusmoreira 3y agoIronically Google made the easiest phone to de-Google. The truth is GrapheneOS is the only reason the Pixel matters at all. If anything it makes me angry at the other manufacturers for not providing the security features and firmware updates GrapheneOS needs.
- Jedd 3y agoThis seems like a weird rationale for that decision. Are you in one of those countries affected by this move? I note in the original post by Google (two links away from 'mobilesyrup', who don't deign to mention the actual countries) they write: "We are no longer selling Fitbit products in select countries—but don’t worry! We will continue to support you and the devices you currently own with software releases, security updates, warranty fulfillment, and access to customer service." So if you had bought a fitbit, and were in one of the countries they were not selling in any longer, you'd still be fine, presumably for at least 3+ years.
- zaptheimpaler 3y ago"Google said it wanted to align the Fitbit hardware portfolio to more closely match the Pixel line’s regional availability. " Wow... this must be the most brain damaged thing I've read today. Imagine the google algorithm applied to orchestration. I am running a service that needs a Redis instance per webserver. I have 5 web servers and 3 Redis instances. I run `k8s deploy` or whatever. Google deletes 2 web servers.. see we're all aligned now! There must already be a classic fable or story about this scenario.
- ahofmann 3y agoOne has to read between the lines. What they really said is "We sell not enough Fitbit products in these countries and need to cut costs. So we'll sell only in countries, where we sell other products and selling Fitbit products costs us nothing".
- golem14 3y agoYou need a sales force, translations, customer billing, regulatory compliance etc - I’m sure the cost of the cloud resources is negligible. I think this is a perfectly rational approach, esp if the long term thought is to bring Fitbit into the android/pixel fold.
- ReactiveJelly 3y agoThe action makes sense, but the justification just sounds bogus. Like when a company says they're making some change to "improve service" or whatever but it's actually making service worse for some people
- akira2501 3y agoIt's a penny wise and pound foolish approach that only a monopolist could get away with.
- jonsolo 3y agoMonopolist? Fitbit is far from the market leader, where Apple Watch completely dominates the category.
- wffurr 3y agoWhy can’t Google sell hardware in more than a handful of countries? Samsung and Apple reach almost 200.
- wmf 3y agoThey're not really trying. 4% of a small market simply isn't worth the overhead.
- Joeri 3y agoSamsung and apple make most of their money from selling hardware. Google makes most of its money from selling advertising. In fact, google makes more money from youtube ads than from all its hardware combined. That changes the motivation of how hard each company is willing to try to sell you hardware. Ironically google should really be trying harder because they need to diversify from the ads game.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- lawgimenez 3y agoPlanning to gift my wife a FitBit and now Google pulled it off in my country. Can anyone recommend an alternative?
- oaththrowaway 3y agoGarmin
- biglyburrito 3y agoGarmin is what we went with. They have a _ton_ of options to choose from ( https://www.garmin.com/en-US/c/wearables-smartwatches/ https://www.garmin.com/en-US/c/wearables-smartwatches/ ). My wife opted for the 40mm Garmin Venu Sq 2 ( https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/801643/pn/010-02701-00 https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/801643/pn/010-02701-00 ), which is one of their smallest watches. More expensive, to be sure, but the battery life is way better, the software is good (instead of sucking like the Fitbit app), & I know of at least five (5) people who say their Garmin has lasted for _years_, which isn't something I can say for either of the Fitbits we owned. The one knock against Garmin is that their pricing for watch bands is INSANE. Do not under any circumstances pay the money for the bands they're asking for; there are plenty of better, cheaper third-party options available on Amazon, Etsy, & other sites.
- biglyburrito 3y agoAnd to save you the trouble: the smallest watch that Garmin makes is the 34mm Lily ( https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/698519/pn/010-02384-03 https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/698519/pn/010-02384-03 ). The main reason my wife opted NOT to buy the Lily was that the "stylish" patterned lens -- the background -- is distracting & non-customizable.
- clintonb 3y agoThis is unfortunate, but expected. I used a Fitbit Charge for the past seven-plus years. I built an app, SyncFit, to sync to Apple Health. I switched to Apple Watch last year because it was clear Google had removed features in the latest Fitbit devices to sell more Android Watch devices.
- benatkin 3y agoThat's quite a destructive action by Google.
- TylerE 3y agoHow? I'm genuinely asking that. Not like they're going into people's homes and stealing them.
- benatkin 3y agoIf you viewed the whole action, like I did, it's clear. I bought a FitBit, took it with me to Latin America (with pics to prove it), and then Google went along and bought FitBit and now they're discontinuing it from Latin American countries. Edit: it wasn't launched in Argentina when I went there in 2019 (with a stop in Uruguay), but it was launched there before Google bought it https://blog.google/products/fitbit/fitbit-launches-argentina/ https://blog.google/products/fitbit/fitbit-launches-argentin... The press release got moved from fitbit's website to Google apparently. Edit 2: At least 1 of their product names, Alta HR, must have been inspired by Latin America
- TylerE 3y agoOk, but how has that caused you harm? You already bought it and can continue to use it.
- shaldengeki 3y agoIt's been a rough couple years as a Fitbit user; ever since the acquisition, Google's been slowly but surely shuttering the service piece by piece, and pretty much everyone can see that Google's only interested in pushing their own devices. What a waste.
- topspin 3y ago> pretty much everyone can see that Google's only interested in pushing their own devices. Then why are Fitbit adds appearing on YouTube every few minutes?
- p1mrx 3y agoBecause you forgot to sign up for YouTube Premium. With YouTube premium you can watch unlimited ad-free videos. Eligible new members get a 1 month free trial, then pay only $13.99/month. Act now and save 15% with an annual membership.
- ThePowerOfFuet 3y agoThanks, Google Sales!
- firecall 3y agoI’ve always liked FitBit devices, the App and the Brand. Now if they had only integrated Fitbit with Apple Health I might wearing a FitBit right now instead of an Apple Watch.
- diogenescynic 3y agoSame experience with their Nest acquisition. Google bought a good product just to slowly kill it off.
- biglyburrito 3y agoThey're doing people a favor. Fitbit is trash: the second Fitbit Charge we've owned in the last 3yrs has died, this time a Charge 5 that refused to turn on overnight 13 months after purchase -- 1 month after the warranty expired. We got a refund on it through our credit card's Extended Warranty protection benefit & bought a Garmin Venu Sq 2 to replace it.
- kumarm 3y agoNever forget that pre Google+ they has #1 Social Media app in India and Brazil and killed it because its not popular enough (Orkut).
- m3kw9 3y agoThat’s some disorganized bs
- sMarsIntruder 3y ago> Google confirmed last month that Fitbit would be leaving over a dozen markets in Asia and Europe. In Asia, these markets are Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. As for Europe, Fitbit is leaving Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Slovakia. Just so you don’t have to dig into the article where you can’t find it.
- unixhero 3y agoI see, so leaving from lower GDP countries
- workfromspace 3y agoAccording to Wikipedia [1][2] you are right - for the total GDP. However, interestingly, Luxembourg is the highest GDP "per capita" in the world [3] :) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP) [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)...
- unixhero 3y agoGood that my postgraduate degree in international economics is worthwhile for some analyses. :)
- rubatuga 3y agoTried to use the Fitbit inspire 3 on my iPhone, but it kept losing the bluetooth connection after a few hours and notifications would not go through. Still, the bluetooth connection indicator would be active. I ended up returning it and switched back to my trusty GTS Mini 2, which worked flawlessly (and probably sent all my data to China).