Google doesn't want to let Apple run away with the health-tracking market, but it may be too late

But for big consumer technology companies like Apple and Google, it's still important to have a foothold in the wearable devices market because it's the key way to get information about users on the go, as well as to gather potentially lucrative biometric data about the human body.

That's a low multiple for a tech industry acquisition, and reflects the company's declining business under pressure from the Apple Watch in particular.

Unlike Google's own wearables brand, Android Wear, Fitbit does have brand recognition in the wearables market and has sold more than 100 million devices.

Over time, Fitbit has made some smart steps in moving from being a wellness device for fitness enthusiasts to adding more medical functions, such as detecting cardiac arrhythmia and sleep apnea.

Fitbit is further along in establishing relationships with the health industry than Alphabet, which has been also dabbling with wearables out Verily, its life sciences unit, but doesn't have deals with major health plans and employers under its belt.

Google is well aware that consumers don't trust it as much as Apple when it comes to health data, so the company went out of its way to note that Fitbit data would not be used to sell ads. Nonetheless, Google could use the anonymized data in a lot of other ways, including to help train artificial intelligence programs to understand human health better.

Apple is well aware of this problem, and has been snapping up behavioral scientists like Heather Patrick, so the race is now firmly underway for tech giants to develop a device that truly sticks.

Original article