Google's US$40 million purchase aimed at Apple, Samsung

The US$40 million Fossil deal gives Google the technology to create its own branded watches and compete against Apple and Samsung Galaxy With smartwatch sales taking off globally, Google has agreed to pay US$40 million for the smartwatch technology of the fashion and accessory group Fossil As part of the deal, Texas-based Fossil Group's research and development team working on the smartwatch will join Google, which will acquire the intellectual property for Fossil smartwatches, the firms said, ABS CBN reported.

With the smartwatch market growing - North America alone has seen a 40% jump in sales during Q2 2019 for a market value of US$2 billion - the deal gives Google the technology to create its own branded watches and compete against Apple and Samsung Galaxy "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." Greg McKelvey, chief strategy and digital officer at Fossil, said in the statement: "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" Fossil moved into smartwatches in 2015 with a US$260 million acquisition of Misfit, a tech platform created by former Microsoft researcher Sonny Vu and the ex-Apple CEO John Sculley. Source