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Fitbit Considers Adopting Google Assistant Prior to the Acquisition
June 29, 2020
Google is in the process of buying Fitbit, which raised the issue of the vast amount of health and personal data that might end being used for no-one-knows-what by the tech giant. As a result, although Google and Fitbit have agreed to the sale, the US government has not signed off on it yet. As an interim step, Fitbit might add Google Assistant support to the Versa 2, a smartwatch that was released nine months ago and already has a smart assistant feature, Alexa, provided by Amazon. If Google competes the purchase, it would likely start rolling out some of its top software offerings in Fitbit devices soon. 9to54Google reported a recent software update of the Versa 2 that includes lines of code foretells the arrival of Google Assistant on the fitness smartwatch. Since there is already a smart assistant included on the watch – Amazon Alexa, Fitbit Versa 2 users could choose between the two services. Currently, Fitbit devices don't support many Google products and if anything, Fitbit's ecosystem competes with Google's own. The Fitbit App is pretty much a direct competitor to Google Fit and the Fitbit Versa 2 also supports Spotify as opposed to Google Music. By making the Fitbit Versa 2 more Google-friendly users could opt for using a hybrid third-party app system (Fitbit-Amazon-Spotify) or switch over to more integrated Google system (Google Fit-Assistant-Music). Google Assistant might bring along a more hands-free voice assistant experience too. Now, activating Amazon Alexa, requires pressing the one button on the Versa 2 or navigate over to the Alexa app in the watch's menu system. Since there is a microphone on the Versa 2, Google could potentially include a 'hotword' to activate the assistant, such as "Hey, Google", so users can take notes or set reminders without having to touch the watch.
June 29, 2020
Google is in the process of buying Fitbit, which raised the issue of the vast amount of health and personal data that might end being used for no-one-knows-what by the tech giant. As a result, although Google and Fitbit have agreed to the sale, the US government has not signed off on it yet. As an interim step, Fitbit might add Google Assistant support to the Versa 2, a smartwatch that was released nine months ago and already has a smart assistant feature, Alexa, provided by Amazon. If Google competes the purchase, it would likely start rolling out some of its top software offerings in Fitbit devices soon. 9to54Google reported a recent software update of the Versa 2 that includes lines of code foretells the arrival of Google Assistant on the fitness smartwatch. Since there is already a smart assistant included on the watch – Amazon Alexa, Fitbit Versa 2 users could choose between the two services. Currently, Fitbit devices don't support many Google products and if anything, Fitbit's ecosystem competes with Google's own. The Fitbit App is pretty much a direct competitor to Google Fit and the Fitbit Versa 2 also supports Spotify as opposed to Google Music. By making the Fitbit Versa 2 more Google-friendly users could opt for using a hybrid third-party app system (Fitbit-Amazon-Spotify) or switch over to more integrated Google system (Google Fit-Assistant-Music). Google Assistant might bring along a more hands-free voice assistant experience too. Now, activating Amazon Alexa, requires pressing the one button on the Versa 2 or navigate over to the Alexa app in the watch's menu system. Since there is a microphone on the Versa 2, Google could potentially include a 'hotword' to activate the assistant, such as "Hey, Google", so users can take notes or set reminders without having to touch the watch.
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