{"id":13138,"date":"2020-08-08T08:54:39","date_gmt":"2020-08-08T08:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/?p=13138"},"modified":"2020-08-08T08:54:39","modified_gmt":"2020-08-08T08:54:39","slug":"european-commission-opens-probe-into-google-fitbit-2-1bn-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/?p=13138","title":{"rendered":"European Commission opens probe into Google Fitbit $2.1bn deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nThe regulator\u2019s concerns arise from its preliminary probe on Google\u2019s commitments that Fitbit\u2019s data will be virtually separated from other datasets.
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(Subscribe to our Today’s Cache newsletter for a quick snapshot of top 5 tech stories. Click here<\/a> to subscribe for free.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s competition regulator has opened an in-depth investigation into Google\u2019s proposed acquisition of wearables maker Fitbit.<\/p>\n

The European Commission said it is concerned that the deal will further strengthen Google\u2019s dominant position in online advertising by using Fitbit\u2019s data on its users\u2019 health and fitness.<\/p>\n

The expected growth of wearables market \u201cwill go hand in hand with an exponential growth of data generated through these devices,\u201d Margrethe Vestager, European Commission\u2019s top antitrust regulator, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur investigation aims to ensure that control by Google over data collected through wearable devices as a result of the transaction does not distort competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The regulator\u2019s concerns arise from its preliminary probe on Google\u2019s commitments that Fitbit\u2019s data will be virtually separated from other datasets.<\/p>\n

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Google had said that the wearable maker\u2019s health data will be kept in a silo, and that its usage will be restricted for the search company\u2019s advertising business.<\/p>\n

The commission noted that Google\u2019s data silo approach to be \u201cinsufficient\u201d as the remedy did not cover all of Fitbit\u2019s data that can be accessed by Google post its acquisition. Some of this information is said to will be \u201cvaluable\u201d for the search giant\u2019s advertising business.<\/p>\n

The antitrust regulator has 90 working days to take a decision on the proposed $2.1bn deal.<\/p>\n

Google sees this deal as a way to put its software into Fitbit\u2019s hardware, and increase competition in the wearables market, which has many players, including Apple, Xiaomi and Huawei.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis deal is about devices, not data. We\u2019ve been clear from the beginning that we will not use Fitbit health and wellness data for Google ads,\u201d Rick Osterloh, SVP for Devices & Services at Google, said in a blog post.<\/p>\n

Fitbit is one of the earliest wearable makers, and the American company is known for popularising the 10,000 steps goal. The company has been facing stiff competition from other smartwatch makers, like Apple and Garmin.<\/p>\n

And the market is only set to grow as more people strap on fitness tracking devices. The global wearable devices market is set to exceed more than $67 billion by 2024, according to data from MarketWatch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The regulator\u2019s concerns arise from its preliminary probe on Google\u2019s commitments that Fitbit\u2019s data will be virtually separated from other datasets. (Subscribe to our Today’s Cache newsletter for a quick snapshot of top 5 tech stories. Click here to subscribe for free.) Europe\u2019s competition regulator has opened an in-depth investigation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking-business"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/FITBIT.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}