Google to Acquire Fossil's $40 Million Smartwatch Tech

Google has acquired under development smartwatch and wearable tech from Fossil Group. The total size of the transaction is the US $40 million.

The selected intellectual property (IP) from smartwatch technology along with the employees working on those IP will be transferred to Google. However, the announcement also noted that Fossil Group retains more than 200 R&D team members to maintain focus on innovation and product development.

Fossil is the owner of many brands for hybrid and touchscreen smartwatches such as Fossil, Michele, Misfit, Relic, Skagen and Zodiac, and licensed brands, Adidas, Armani Exchange, Burberry, Chaps, Diesel, DKNY, Emporio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld, kate spade new york, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, and Tory Burch.

Executive Opinion:

Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Digital Officer, Fossil Group, Greg McKelvey, said, “Fossil Group has experienced significant success in its wearables business by focusing on product design and development informed by our strong understanding of consumers’ needs and style preferences. We’ve built and advanced a technology that has the potential to improve upon our existing platform of smartwatches. Together with Google, our innovation partner, we’ll continue to unlock growth in wearables."

Vice President of Product Management, Wear OS by Google, Stacey Burr, said, “Wearables, built for wellness, simplicity, personalization, and helpfulness, have the opportunity to improve lives by bringing users the information and insights they need quickly, at a glance. The addition of Fossil Group’s technology and team to Google demonstrates our commitment to the wearables industry by enabling a diverse portfolio of smartwatches and supporting the ever-evolving needs of the vitality-seeking, on-the-go consumer.”

Smartwatches Field

Apple, Fitbit, and Samsung are dominating the smartwatch segment. Apple's smartwatches run on Watch OS based on iOS, FitBit ships Pebble-based smartwatches with Fitbit OS, after its acquisition of Pebble while Samsung smartwatch runs Tizen OS. Apple smartwatches having the highest share in the market followed by Wear OS. According to IDC forecast, Smartwatches will account for 44.6% of all wearables shipped by the end of 2022

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS44000018

Smartwatches have been the fast-growing segment for Fossil Group and company launched smartwatches across 14 of its owned and licensed brands.

The transaction is expected to close January 2019.