Apple’s smartwatch lineup has become the de facto leader in the market ever since its debut, despite the best efforts from other companies out there in the space.
While Google has its own smartwatch division, featuring the WearOS (formerly Android Wear) software, the company has yet to actually make a dent in Apple’s dominance of the market up to this point. Despite having a variety of watch partners, offering up different designs, features, and, most importantly, prices. But it looks like Google’s parent company, Alphabet, wants to give the effort a major infusion.
According to a story from Reuters on Monday, Alphabet is looking to acquire the wearable company Fitbit. At the time of publication neither Fitbit or Alphabet have provided a comment on the story. What’s more, the sources say there is no definitive say on whether or not the talks will actually lead to an acquisition. It’s simply too early to tell.
There is also no word on just how much Alphabet offered Fitbit.
There is no certainty that the negotiations between Google and Fitbit will lead to any deal, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the matter is confidential. The exact price that Google has offered for Fitbit could not be learned.
Up to this point, Google has only provided the software for other smartwatch makers to use. However, Google has not actually launched a smartwatch of its own. There have been countless rumors in the past that the company was planning on launching a “Pixel Watch” at one point or another, but that has not actually led to a real device quite yet.
This would be the second major acquisition in this space within the year 2019 if it goes through. Back in January it was reported that Google had acquired Fossil’s “secret” smartwatch technology. At the time it was expected that the software, whatever it might be, would be rolled into Wear OS, aiming to give the smartwatch platform a big boost against the reigning watchOS.
That’s all we’ve got for now, but if this does go through it’s a major win for Google. And hopefully Wear OS in general. But what do you think? Can Wear OS really compete with the Apple Watch anymore? Let us know in the comments below.