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Another important reason why Google is lagging behind smartwatch competition is its lack of good health and fitness product portfolio. In recent years, Apple has added electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) measurements to its watches, and there are rumors that blood glucose monitoring will become the focus. The next new health function In the upcoming Series 7 smart watch.
But Google now owns Fitbit and is using the strength of this wearable company. Your next Google-powered smartwatch will have many of the same features now found on Fitbit devices, such as health tracking and exercise progress, as well as wrist celebrations that provide extra power. Fitbit will also produce advanced smart watches running Wear in the future.
However, functions such as ECG and SpO2 are not built-in. Kilburn said: “The more specialized features like ECG will be determined by the manufacturer. We have enabled them to bring this innovation to the market, so it depends on the launch of the specific device.” Both Samsung and Fitbit offer SpO2 and ECG tracking function Existing watches and trackers, So (though not yet confirmed) these features may still be present when their respective Wear watches make their debut later.
Kilburn also said that Google is also working with Fitbit (and Samsung) to rebuild the underlying health and fitness framework in Wear to make activity tracking more accurate and make it easier for developers to collect and use tracking data. “In the past, they had to traverse the entire operating system to collect different data, but we integrated them all into a framework that they can use.”
Since the Fitbit application will also be logged in on Wear, future Wear smartwatch users can choose to use the Fitbit application or Google Fit to track fitness data. Kilburn could not comment on future plans, but said that anyone who chooses a Fitbit Wear smartwatch will “continue to have a great experience on Fitbit.”
As for future updates to Wear, Kilburn did not disclose whether Google will follow the annual update cycle like Android does, or how Apple will launch a new watchOS version every year. Instead, expect a more frequent update rhythm.
Catch up
It should be noted that although Google announced that it had completed the acquisition of Fitbit in January after obtaining the approval of the EU Antitrust Commission, the condition is that Google cannot use Fitbit users’ health data for advertising, and must separate Fitbit and Google data. It does not mean that the US Department of Justice has automatically signed the agreement.
A Google spokesperson said that it has complied with the US Department of Commerce’s review and “the agreed waiting period is no objection,” but the US Department of Justice’s review is still ongoing and it has enforcement tools that can detect acquisitions that harm competition.
Nevertheless, even though it has been seven years since Google launched its smartwatch platform, the company has nothing to show off. According to the data of the analysis company, as of the fourth quarter of 2020, War OS only accounted for 2.7% of the market Counterpoint research. Apple’s global smartwatch sales increased by 19% during the same period and now occupy a 40% market share. Samsung jumped to 10% market share, while Fitbit stagnated at 7%. Google now owns 7% of the company, but still needs Samsung to develop the Wear platform.
Jeff Fieldhack, research director at Counterpoint Research, said: “Apple clearly dominates, but Samsung is clearly the second largest player.” “They have brand awareness. They sell the most connected devices to date. , This is also a trend-cellular connection. By installing a modem, you can have a separate device without your partner’s smartphone.”
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