Google just spent $40 million for Fossil's secret smartwatch tech
Google and watchmaker Fossil Group today announced an agreement for the search giant to acquire some of Fossil's smartwatch technology and members of the research and development division responsible for creating it. The deal is worth roughly $40 million, and under the current terms Fossil will transfer a "portion" of its R&D team, the portion directly responsible for the intellectual property being sold, over to Google. As a result, Google will now have a dedicated team with hardware experience working internally on its WearOS software platform and potentially on new smartwatch designs as well.
[...] According to Wareable, the technology is a "new product innovation that's not yet hit the market," Greg McKelvey, Fossil's executive vice president of chief strategy and digital officer, told the publication. It's unclear what exactly that innovation is, or why exactly Google is so eager to buy it, although $40 million is a drop in the bucket for Google when it comes to acquisition costs.
Hologram watch.
See also: Fossil shares jump after Google agrees to buy smartwatch tech for $40 million
Also at AnandTech.
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Google buys Fitbit for $2.1 billion
It's official: Google is buying Fitbit. The company announced the move in a blog post this morning, and reports say the deal is worth $2.1 billion.
Google's SVP of hardware, Rick Osterloh, posted an announcement of the acquisition on Google's blog, saying the move was "an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS as well as introduce Made by Google wearable devices into the market."
This is the second time this year Google has made an acquisition aimed at bolstering Wear OS, having previously purchased an unknown technology from Fossil Group for $40 million.
Holograms.
Previously: Google Acquires Unspecified Smartwatch Technology and Employees From Fossil for $40 Million
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday January 18 2019, @09:59PM (1 child)
My guess: 10 employees + enough patents to do whatever it is that they want, but Fossil might make problems for them in patent court.
An infringement lawsuit can cost $40M real quick, if there's a high volume product involved.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 19 2019, @04:42PM
Not spending billions? Have we hit peak bubble?
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 19 2019, @02:25AM (2 children)
Unintuitive as it may be, big brother tracking us all via such devices is in our interest. Just imagine how much easier crimes would be to solve if people all had GPS trackers. Sure if society turned evil it would present a huge problem, but it also provides the means to suppress such social movements as would cause it to be misused.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday January 19 2019, @02:49AM (1 child)
The murderers could just wear old school watches.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Touché) by jasassin on Saturday January 19 2019, @03:25PM
Any self respecting murderer just switches their smartwach into IncognitoMurder mode.
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