Google announced a $2.1 billion deal to acquire Fitbit in November last year. The Alphabet-owned company is yet to get regulatory approval from the EU for its planned acquisition of Fitbit. According to Reuters, Google has submitted new concessions to appease the EU regulators in approving the deal.
The company will restrict the use of Fitbit data for Google ads. While Google already made this statement back in July, it will now tighten the monitoring process. It will also allow third-party services from accessing data from Fitbit users with their consent.
Google might soon get approval from the EU for its Fitbit acquisition
“We’re also formalizing our longstanding commitment to supporting other wearable manufacturers on Android and to continue to allow Fitbit users to connect to third-party services via APIs (application programming interfaces) if they want to,” Google said in a statement.
While the European Commission’s (EC) decision is scheduled to be announced on December 23, it might even come out earlier. However, the EC regulators will now meet with competitors and consumers to collect feedback on Google’s new concessions. It will then decide to clear or block the $2.1 billion deal.
The meeting between the regulators and competitors could also lead to more demands for allowing the deal. With Fitbit under its control, Google will be competing with Apple, Samsung, and others in the wearable segment. In its initial days, Fitbit has been a market leader in the fitness tracker market.
The deal is also under scrutiny in the US and Australia
The increasing popularity of the smartwatches restricted Fitbit’s wearable market share to just 3 percent in the first quarter of 2020. Apart from Apple and Samsung, the wearable segment is also dominated by several Chinese brands with their affordable fitness trackers.
The Google-Fitbit deal is also under scrutiny by the authorities from the US and Australia. Google is also facing backlash from consumer groups in several countries. The company has been saying that this deal is only about the devices, not data.
Currently, the company lacks any hardware product in the consumer wearable market. In the last few months, there are a couple of leaks about the Pixel-branded smartwatch from Google. The company might officially debut the wearable segment once this deal closes.
It will be facing tough competition from the Apple Watch. In the first half of 2020, Apple Watch has accounted for more than 50 percent of the overall smartwatch market revenue.