Google announced earlier this year that it had finally completed the construction of Fitbit and would merge with the company’s hardware division. At the time, Google had promised regulators that they would not sell or provide personal and health data to users for ads, so it was only a matter of time before the company found an alternative to bring in the money.
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According to a report by Android Central, Google had promised that the agreement was about “devices, not data” and that customers’ Fitbit data would not be used for advertising, so it was inevitable that the company another way to make money from the data without giving it to anyone else. Google is at the end of the day, with the exception of the Pixels and the Google Home devices, not a hardware company, after all.
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The report states that Fitbit recently released a study that appears to reveal the company ‘s plans to expand the existing Fitbit Premium health service. While current Fitbit users have the option to view much more detailed statistics about their workplaces compared to free users, they can also access more personalized work plans, programs meditation and fitness. However, an extension of the Premium series could further change these plans.
If consumers stayed on the cheapest series under the new system recommended in the study according to the report, users on the free series would lose access to their previous health data, something they never had access to. The report states that the free series may offer limited historical data but you may not be able to view stats from a few months or a year ago. However, we won’t know anything for sure, until Google makes an official statement or announces any plans regarding future Fitbit pricing.