Alphabet’s Google took over European Unions' antitrust approval for its $2.1 billion bid for Fitbit( a company that produces wearable fitness trackers and watches ) after the tech titan agreed to conditions including not using health data from European users for advertising. 

When Google announced the acquisition in November 2019, Google hardware chief Rick Osterloh said that the Fitbit purchase was “an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS as well as introduce Made by Google wearable devices into the market.” But regulators quickly got involved, and in August, they formally began investigating Google’s purchase of Fitbit over data privacy and antitrust concerns.

The deal had triggered criticism from privacy advocates on both sides of the Atlantic, consumer organizations, and Google rivals about the company’s market power and the use of people’s health data in targeted advertising.

Once Fitbit was a leader in the wearable devices market. But in recent years it has lost market share to Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung, and Huawei.

The European Commission said it had agreed on concessions with Google, valid for 10 years with the possibility of another 10-year extension, addressing competition concerns.

For the approval of the deal, Google has agreed to a number of concessions to ease EU concerns. Among the concessions, Google has agreed not to use Fitbit data, including GPS and health data, gathered from any user in the European Economic Area (EEA) for targeted advertising. Also, Google will store Fitbit user's data separately from Google's data used for advertising, and will not use data from Fitbit for GoogleAds. Users can store their health data either in their Google or Fitbit accounts.

The tech giant is said to maintain access to users’ health and fitness data to software applications through Fitbit Web API software, without charging for access. 

Google says that it believes this deal will encourage the innovation of wearable devices and enable them to build products that will help people lead healthier lives. 

Source: Reuters

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Amazon.com Inc on Thursday launched its first fitness band and app, Halo, as the e-commerce giant looks to take on Apple, Fitbit and Samsung in an increasingly crowded fitness tracker market.

The Halo band, which does not feature a display screen unlike most of its rivals, is priced at $99.99, while the app membership costs $3.99 per month, Amazon said.

The scope of growth in the fitness band market has prompted tech giants such as Apple Inc and Samsung to introduce many sophisticated features for health tracking, including electrocardiogram and blood pressure sensor.

In comparison, Amazon has featured a relatively new technology in the market called tone analysis, which reviews users’ tone during conversations. When enabled, a microphone on the band listens to detect emotions such as happiness, confusion or affection in the speaker’s tone.

It remains to be seen if consumers would embrace this feature or would it spark privacy concerns. Amazon said the technology was designed in a way that protects privacy.

The company said the water-resistant band, with a battery life of up to 7 days, also contains an accelerometer, a temperature sensor, a heart rate monitor and can measure body fat percentage.

Alphabet Inc-owned Google is also making strides into the fitness market. Google in November said it would buy Fitbit Inc for $2.1 billion, a deal that is currently under regulatory scrutiny.

The market is also crowded by cheaper offerings from China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and Xiaomi Corp.

source:reuters

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In a blog, Google has announced that it is rolling out new features, making it easier for Chrome users to sync their passwords and payment information across devices. 

After you log into the browser with a Google account, Chrome on Android will be able to access saved payment information. Payments can be confirmed by entering a card's CVC or also by biometric security. One can easily log in to a Google Account on an Android device. A single tap will be enough for devices with pre-enabled Google services like Gmail, to sign in to the browser with a Google Account. 

Also, Chrome's desktop version is being updated. When you save a new password to a device, Chrome will ask you whether you want to save it on the device or to a Google Account. If you save the password in your Google account you can access the password from any of your devices. 

These features are already available in chrome via its sync features. But as the sync option needs to be turned on in every device it is a little problematic. The company claims that the new approach of signing into a browser with a Google Account makes it “simpler and more intuitive” to access your information.

source: the verge

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