Will the EU Antitrust give the green light to Google on Fitbit?
According to the FT, Google is likely to get EU approval for its $ 2.1 billion Fitbit deal. The Mountain View giant promises not to use wearable device data to target advertising for a decade
It seems that Big G has convinced Brussels. Reuters wrote yesterday that Alphabet (Google's parent company) will obtain approval from the EU Antitrust for the purchase of $ 2.1 billion of Fitbit, a manufacturer of fitness tracking devices. With the acquisition, Google is preparing to face Apple and Samsung in the wearable technology market.
But the deal, announced a year ago, was stalled by concerns about its impact on consumer privacy and competition in the wearable device market.
According to Reuters , Google made some concessions today and is now well on its way to gaining EU approval.
But the European Commission, which is expected to decide on the deal by December 23, declined to comment. His decision may come before the deadline.
FREE GO FROM THE EU?
As also reported by the Financial Times , Brussels is ready to approve the acquisition of Google from 2.1 billion dollars for Fitbit after the concessions "obtained by Mountain View. “Including promise not to use health data” collected by the fitness app to personalize advertisements for a period of “10 years”.
THE CONCESSIONS OF GOOGLE
Google confirmed that it has sent a new set of pledges to the European Commission, reiterating a previous pledge not to use Fitbit health and wellness data for advertising. This commitment includes location data for any fitness activity.
Additionally, the tech giant headed by Sundar Pichai said it will provide additional monitoring of data separation requirements.
To get the green light from Brussels, Google has also offered new guarantees such as allowing other devices to access Fitbit data "with the user's consent, under the same conditions as Google".
Fitbit customers will also be able to continue using services like Strava and Map My Run.
BIG'S INTEREST IN THE FITNESS TRACKER
But let's go back to the origin. In November 2019, Google announced its plan to buy FitBit. The all-cash deal was supposed to close this year, but approval from the European regulator is required first.
THE COMPETITION WITH SAMSUNG AND XIAOMI
At the time of the announcement, Google had said that thanks to the combination with Fitbit's hardware it would increase competition in the sector where players include Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei.
According to data from market research firm International Data Corp, Fitbit holds a 3% share of the global wearables market as of Q1 2020, far behind Apple's 29.3% share, ranking behind Xiaomi. Samsung and Huawei.
WHERE WERE WE
But not so fast. In August, the European Commission announced the launch of an in- depth investigation into Google's plans to buy Fitbit. European officials were "concerned" that the acquisition would strengthen Google's dominance in online advertising by providing even more personalized consumer data.
EVERY TIME THE EU COMMISSION HAS PINCHED BIG G
And it is not the first time that Google has found itself under the lens of Brussels.
In March 2019, Google was hit with a new € 1.49 billion fine from the European Union for violating competition rules. This is the third time that the European Antitrust has bagged the Mountain View giant.
In 2017, the European Commission imposed a € 2.42 billion fine against Google due to the preferential treatment given to its Google Shopping product in the rankings of shopping sites on its search engine.
Before the fine received for granting its Google Shopping shopping service an illegal advantage over competitors, there is the $ 5.1 billion one in 2018 for abusing the dominant position of its Android operating system.
The Mountain View giant has appealed all three sanctions.
WHEN GOOGLE'S PRACTICES DO NOT CONVINCE COMPETITORS: THE CASE OF GOOGLE SHOPPING
With regard to the 2.4 billion euro fine for Google Shopping, the Big G appeal does not bode well in favor of the Mountain View giant. According to a recent study, the search giant's overhaul to grant competitors access to its retail platform made little difference. The Financial Times reported it this week.
Despite the modification of its practices after the sanction for alleged anti-competitive behavior received in 2017 by the European antitrust, Google is still putting its EU rivals at a disadvantage.
The research anticipates the decision of the Court of the European Union which should rule on Google's appeal against the fine by the end of the year.
THE NEXT STEPS
Going back to the Fitbit acquisition, EU officials will now gather feedback from competitors and consumers before accepting Google's concessions. As Engadget points out, it is possible that Google will have to fulfill additional requests. In any case, the Commission will decide on the agreement by 23 December.
ANTITRUST CONTROL ON GOOGLE ALSO IN THE USA
But Google is facing increased antitrust scrutiny on the other side of the Atlantic as well.
In July, number one Sundar Pichai testified with CEOs of Facebook, Amazon and Apple before Congress in an attempt to convince US lawmakers that he is not abusing his power.
Meanwhile, Google will have to appease both the Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Justice. The latter is preparing an antitrust lawsuit against the technological giant .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/lantitrust-ue-dara-il-via-libera-a-google-su-fitbit/ on Wed, 30 Sep 2020 13:30:26 +0000.