Two years after Google took over Fitbit, and several vague statements from its boss, the brand finally declared there was never any question about launching a Fitbit watch under Wear OS. We take stock of this mess.
Two years ago, Google announced the acquisition of Fitbit, the maker of connected watches and bracelets. A little later, on the occasion of the 2021 edition of the Google I/O conference, the two companies jointly announced the launch of Wear OS 3, in partnership with Samsung. Since then, on several occasions, Fitbit boss James Park had claimed to be working on connected watches based on Wear OS. But apparently, we hadn’t understood anything about him.
According to the site 9to5GoogleFinally, Fitbit indicated on Thursday, January 19, that it never considered abandoning its own operating system, Fitbit OS, for its connected watches, and that the project James Park talked about for two years was the Google Pixel Watch. , developed by Google in collaboration with Fitbit. We take stock of this misunderstanding of almost two years.
Two allusions to Wear OS from the Fitbit boss
However, in two years, allusions to a Fitbit watch under Wear OS have been numerous. In May 2021, during the Google I/O conference, James Park said: “ In the future, we will design premium Wear-based watches that combine the best of Fitbit’s health expertise and Google’s computing capabilities. And this will be just the beginning of our partnership, we intend to do even more to inspire and motivate people on their journey to better health.».
Rebelotte on August 25, 2021, on the occasion of the presentation of Fitbit Charge 5. In the introduction to the presentation, James Park gave an update on Fitbit’s projects with Wear OS:“We will design premium Wear-based smartwatches that combine the best of Fitbit’s health and wellness expertise with Google’s capabilities. Soon we will tell you more ».
Which suggests to many observers (we pleaded guilty on Frandroid) that Fitbit had plans to develop connected watches under Wear OS in the future. In the end it was not like that, as a spokesperson for the brand told the site 9to5Google:
James was referring to the Google Pixel Watch as our premium smartwatch in the Google and Fitbit family of devices.
The Pixel Watch, a watch”fitbit» low operating system wear
Remember that since Google’s acquisition of Fitbit, James Park is no longer just the head of Fitbit, but the head of Google’s wearables division. Thus, he spoke in this capacity at the time of the Wear OS 3 unveiling but also, and more bizarrely, during the Fitbit Charge 5 announcement.
Following these two statements, Fitbit has released two new connected watches, the Fitbit Sense 2 and the Fitbit Versa 4, both of which are powered by Fitbit OS. Although the firm collaborated closely on the design of the Google Pixel Watch, health and sports data is now directly supported by Fitbit apps and not Google Fit anymore. It remains to be seen if the firm still has the start of a Fitbit watch under Wear OS in its boxes, but now nothing less secure.
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