Google taps fitness tracker market with $2.1-B bid for Fitbit

Alphabet Inc.-owned Google will buy Fitbit Inc for $2.1 billion, as the biggest Web search company looks to take on Apple and Samsung in the crowded market for fitness trackers and smart watches.

Google said on Friday that it sees an opportunity to introduce its own wearable devices and invest more in digital health. The purchase will also bring a rich trove of health data gathered by millions of Fitbit's devices.

Fitbit's fitness trackers and other devices monitor users' daily steps, calories burned and distance traveled. They also measure floors climbed, sleep duration and quality, and heart rate.

Fitbit's share of the fitness tracking market has been threatened by deeper-pocketed companies such as Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., as well as cheaper offerings from China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and Xiaomi Corp.

"We believe Google is a natural fit. The deep health and fitness data, coupled with the 28 million active users on the Fitbit platform, offer a tremendous value," Craig Hallum analysts wrote in a note. Xiaomi dominates the global wearables market, with a 17.3% market share in the second quarter of 2019, followed by Apple. Fitbit owns 10% of the market, according to data from market research firm International Data Corp.

Reuters first reported the deal on Monday.

HEALTH DATA

Fitbit, which helped pioneer the wearable devices craze, has been partnering with health insurers and has been making tuck-in acquisitions in the healthcare market, as part of efforts to diversify its revenue stream. Analysts have said that much of the company's value may now lie in its health data.

U.S. antitrust regulators have little reason to oppose Alphabet's plans to buy Fitbit, but that does not mean that U.S. officials, backed by a bevy of anti-Google lawmakers, will not give the proposed purchase extra scrutiny.

Google is already under antitrust investigation by the Justice Department, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and dozens of state attorneys general for allegedly using its massive market power to crush smaller competitors.

Fitbit has raised privacy concerns in the past: In 2011, the sexual activity of people using the health and fitness tracker was found to be publicly accessible online.

The company said on Friday that its users' health and wellness data would not be used for Google ads. Google said in a blog post that it would give Fitbit users the choice to review, move or delete their data.

Google, which has been defending its privacy practices after a number of regulatory probes, said it would be transparent about the data it collects for its devices and would not sell that data.

Fitbit brings to the deal partnerships it has struck with some large drug companies. In October, Fitbit announced a collaboration with Bristol-Myers Co and Pfizer Inc on early detection of irregular heartbeat, or atrial fibrillation, on its devices.

Fitbit in August also launched its latest smart watch, Versa 2, adding Amazon.com Inc's voice assistant Alexa, online payments and music storage to the device's capabilities.

Fitbit has been offered $7.35 per share in cash, the company said, a premium of about 19% to the stock's closing price on Thursday. The company's shares were trading up 15% at $7.11. Shares of Alphabet were nearly flat at $1,263.18.

The company's shares have gained more than 40% since Reuters reported on Monday that Google had made an offer for Fitbit.

Qatalyst Partners LLP was financial adviser to Fitbit on the deal, which is expected to close in 2020. Fenwick & West LLP was the legal adviser.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Jonathan Oatis)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Wrist-worn fitness trackers vary in heart rate readings

Commercial fitness trackers worn on the wrist are less accurate than a chest strap monitor at measuring heart rate, and may over- or underestimate heart rate depending on activity level, researchers say.

In general, wrist monitors are more accurate at rest than during exercise.

"If somebody must know his or her heart rate with great accuracy, like a heart patient or a trained athlete, if you really need to know, use a chest strap," said coauthor Dr. Marc Gillinov of the Cleveland Clinic.

"If you're using these wrist worn monitors and you get an odd value, way too high or too low, it's probably wrong so don't be concerned," Gillinov told Reuters Health by phone.

Motion, ambient light and varying skin tones can all affect wrist monitor accuracy, he said.

The researchers studied four heart rate monitors worn by 50 young, healthy adults exercising on treadmills. They wore electrocardiographic (ECG) limb leads and a Polar H7 chest strap monitor as comparisons for heart rate data, and also wore two of the four different wrist monitors: Fitbit Charge HR, Apple Watch, Mio Alpha and Basis Peak.

Heart rate readings were collected at rest and on the treadmill at two, three, four, five and six miles per hour. Users exercised at each level for three minutes before heart rate was recorded. Recorded heart rates ranged from 49 to 200 beats per minute (bpm).

Compared to the ECG, the heart rate monitors had variable accuracy. The Basis Peak, which is no longer commercially available, overestimated heart rate by roughly eight bpm during moderate exercise. The Fitbit Charge HR underestimated during more vigorous exercise, by about six or seven bpm.

The Apple Watch and Mio Fuse had 95 percent of their heart rate readings fall within a range of 27 to 29 bpm over or under the ECR reading, a slightly smaller range than the Fitbit or the Basis Peak, as reported in JAMA Cardiology.

The companies that make the wrist monitors do not claim that they are medical devices, Gillinov said.

"They should not be used to diagnose or treat anything, you can't count on them in that context," he said.

Aaron Coleman, CEO and founder of Fitabase, Fitbit's longtime clinical research partner, told Reuters Health he thinks the results aren't too bad, especially considering the wrist-worn devices are being compared to a research-grade device, a chest strap that would be unwieldy for any casual athlete to wear.

In general, the further away from the heart a body monitor is located, the more variation there will be in heart rate readings, he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

New smart watch fuses fashion, fitness

NEW YORK -- Smart gadget specialty firm Withings introduced a fashionable Swiss-made time piece Tuesday that doubles as a fitness tracker.

The French company billed Activite as a chic watch with computing brains to track steps taken, calories burned, distance traveled, and sleep patterns.

"Our mission is to inspire health," Withings chief executive Cedric Hutchings said in a release.

Fitness has been a hotspot in the budding trend of wearable computers, with activity monitoring bracelets or pendants such as UP24 and Fitbit finding success in the market.

Consumer electronics titans such as Sony, Samsung, and LG have stepped up with smart watches boasting fitness tracking capabilities.

Apple built a Health Kit into the newest version of the software powering iPhones and iPads, adding fuel to rumors that the California company plans to release a smart watch of its own.

Activite was created by designers in Paris in a spirit of "reinterpreting classical time pieces."

It use Bluetooth connectivity to synch with Withing Health Mate applications on Apple smartphones or tablets.

Activite will be priced at $390 when it is released later this year, according to Withings.

Since being founded in 2009, the firm has become best known for a smart bathroom scale that lets people tap into powers of the Internet and smartphones to manage their weight.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com