When most of us think of wearable fitness trackers, Fitbit is probably the brand that comes to mind, but the growing popularity of multitasking smartwatches from Apple, Samsung and others means Fitbit is eventually going to need to offer more than just health data. So it comes as little surprise that the company is looking toward the future by acquiring mobile payment technology.
This morning, Fitbit announced it had acquired the wearable payment assets of Silicon Valley startup Coin for an undisclosed amount of money.
Fitbit says it won’t be integrating the Coin tech into any devices released this year, but that the goal is to accelerate the company’s ability to offer pay-by-wrist features.
That would allow the company to compete with wearables like Apple Watch, Samsungs Gear S2, or the many Android Wear watches from companies like LG, Fossil, and others.
To anyone considering a smartwatch primarily for fitness tracking, Fitbit has thus far been a lower cost alternative. However, as the other features of smartwatches improve, Fitbit will need to make a product that provides additional utilities.
by Chris Morran via Consumerist
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