Fitbit moves to compete with Android Wear in 2017.
has acquired yet another smartwatch maker, this time a small Romanian outfit, Vector, made up of former Citizen employees.
The move comes barely a month after Fitbit's acquisition of Pebble, a more well-known smartwatch builder in North America, yet Pebble and Vector share many similarities.
Vector built a series of round smartwatches that used e-paper displays to extend battery life to 30 days in some cases, in addition to a fairly rudimentary software platform that included a slowly-growing app ecosystem. , the company says that Fitbit acquired said software and design teams, and work would cease on future development of its in-house hardware:
Today, we are happy to announce that the Vector Watch team and our software platform are joining Fitbit, the leader in the connected health and fitness market! We believe this is an important milestone as a moment when we will start building other new and amazing products, features and experiences, incorporating our unique technology and knowhow with Fitbit's experience and global community.
Vector was overshadowed by Android Wear, Apple Watch and Pebble in Android and iOS circles, but it grew to be a largely because the team spent so much time ensuring that Windows Phone support was robust.
With this acquisition, it's clear that Fitbit intends to build out its currently-basic smartwatch portfolio, which doesn't reach the same levels of complexity as .
has acquired yet another smartwatch maker, this time a small Romanian outfit, Vector, made up of former Citizen employees.
The move comes barely a month after Fitbit's acquisition of Pebble, a more well-known smartwatch builder in North America, yet Pebble and Vector share many similarities.
Vector built a series of round smartwatches that used e-paper displays to extend battery life to 30 days in some cases, in addition to a fairly rudimentary software platform that included a slowly-growing app ecosystem. , the company says that Fitbit acquired said software and design teams, and work would cease on future development of its in-house hardware:
Today, we are happy to announce that the Vector Watch team and our software platform are joining Fitbit, the leader in the connected health and fitness market! We believe this is an important milestone as a moment when we will start building other new and amazing products, features and experiences, incorporating our unique technology and knowhow with Fitbit's experience and global community.
Vector was overshadowed by Android Wear, Apple Watch and Pebble in Android and iOS circles, but it grew to be a largely because the team spent so much time ensuring that Windows Phone support was robust.
With this acquisition, it's clear that Fitbit intends to build out its currently-basic smartwatch portfolio, which doesn't reach the same levels of complexity as .