- More leaks about the new Fitbit tracker have hit the website from ‘sources familiar with the matter’ via 9to5Google
- The display-less band is reportedly known as Fitbit Air.
- Fitbit Premium will also change its name to “Google Health”
More news is abounding about the upcoming screenless Fitbit fitness tracker, as teased by Steph Curry on Instagram. This time, we have a little more unconfirmed information about the tracker’s name, along with a renewal of Google’s Fitbit Premium subscription service.
The name makes some sense: like a MacBook Air or the Ultrahuman Ring Air, it’s likely to be billed as a super-lightweight version of the base device, in this case one of the best Fitbits. It will be even lighter by not needing a screen or a similar element of interactivity, and will be closer to the Fitbits pedometer of yesteryear.
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However, like Whoop (the current leader in screenless fitness tracking), the device will interface with a paid subscription service, in this case Fitbit Premium. Except it may no longer be called Fitbit Premium: 9to5Google’s sources claim the subscription may be rebranded as Google Health.
Google continues its mission to delete Fitbit
After Google bought Fitbit in 2019, using the popular brand’s Fitbit ecosystem to replace its middling Google Fit app, it began quietly removing models and features from its lineup that it deemed redundant. These include community challenges and, that is, almost all smartwatch models, integrating the best into its own Google Pixel Watch line.
Fitbit Premium is a great fitness service (our reviewer gave Fitbit Premium 4.5 stars in our review) and changing the name to Google Health wouldn’t necessarily change the content or functionality of the service, just the branding. But it would be one more step toward removing the Fitbit name from the Google ecosystem, strengthening its own brand.
My guess is that if the rumors are true and the move is successful, Google Health will be rolled into other Google devices and services, allowing the company to remain consistent, while Fitbits will be reduced to the name of that particular line of trackers. Having ‘Fitbit, powered by Google’ on a Google Pixel Watch could be a complicated message for smartwatch buyers who don’t know that Fitbit and Google are the same thing. If the rumors are true, Google Pixel phones and watches just arrived with Google Health and everyone will know what’s up.
Whether more features will be removed to the anger of existing Fitbit subscribers, only time will tell.
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