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| Google is ramping up its persuasion to convince Europe to agree to the Fitbit deal |
Google has revised its franchises to address European Union antitrust concerns over the $ 2.1 billion purchase of Fitbit, citing people familiar with the matter, Reuters reported on Friday, paving the way for the company to pave the way for EU approval.
Last month, Google formally pledged to support long-term commitments to manufacturers of Android wearables and continue to give Fitbit users the ability to connect to third-party services via APIs when needed. It also provides a feature that allows third parties to continue to access Fitbit user data, subject to user consent.
Reuters sources said: After the European Commission received comments from competitors and consumers, Google reviewed the plan and the source declined to give further details. The European Union's competition enforcement agency has not requested further comments from the market, indicating that this change may have been approved by the European Commission.
Google hopes to make concessions with the European Commission to solve the issues through which the transaction could boost Google's power in online advertising and improve user data.
Last August, the European Commission rejected Google's pledge not to use fitness tracking data for promotional purposes to address competition concerns, saying it was insufficient.
It's worth noting that Google's acquisition of Fitbit has sparked criticism from healthcare providers, competitors in the wearable industry, and data protection advocates.
According to market research firm IDC, Fitbit was once the market leader in wearables, accounting for 3% of the global wearable device market in the first quarter of 2020. It is followed by Apple (with a share of 29.3%). ) And other companies (such as Xiaomi, Samsung, and Huawei).