Fitbit Inc. has acquired specific assets of Pebble, including key personnel and intellectual property related to software and firmware development. The acquisition excludes the company’s hardware products.
Market reports of the acquisition arrived on December 1.
With this acquisition, Fitbit said it adds deep industry expertise in platform development that complements the company’s core discipline of innovative health and fitness features. The additional resources will facilitate the faster delivery of new products, features and functionality while introducing speed and efficiencies to develop the general purpose utility consumers value in a connected device. The acquisition will also accelerate the development of customized solutions and third party applications for Fitbit Group Health customers and partners, including researchers, employers and providers.
“With basic wearables getting smarter and smartwatches adding health and fitness capabilities, we see an opportunity to build on our strengths and extend our leadership position in the wearables category,” said James Park, CEO and co-founder of Fitbit. “With this acquisition, we’re well positioned to accelerate the expansion of our platform and ecosystem to make Fitbit a vital part of daily life for a wider set of consumers, as well as build the tools healthcare providers, insurers and employers need to more meaningfully integrate wearable technology into preventative and chronic care.”
Fitbit said that with Android usage accounting for nearly 90 percent of smartphone OS market share globally, the ability to deliver consumers cross-platform devices is a key competitive advantage in the wearables category. As an early entrant in the category, Pebble was a trailblazer of the largest open, agnostic connected device operating system, which complements Fitbit’s broad cross-platform compatibility with more than 200 iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices.
The Pebble transaction was completed on December 6.
Photo courtesy Pebble
