Google Agrees to Buy Fossil Smartwatch Tech for $40M

^{Thumbnail has been resized courtesy of} Fossil.com.

Fossil Group today announced its plan to sell intellectual property related to a smartwatch currently under development to Google for $40 million.

The deal highlights the investment by Google and Fossil in the wearables industry.

Under the deal, a portion of Fossil’s research and development team, who are currently supporting the transferring intellectual property, will join Google.

Smartwatches have been Fossil’s fastest growing category after the company developed and launched the wearable technology across 14 of its owned and licensed brands.

But while Fossil is one of the primary brands that builds smartwatches that run Google’s Wear OS software, competition with the Apple Watch has caused the adoption of Google’s smart-tech to suffer.

“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,” said Stacey Burr, vice president of product management at Wear OS by Google.

Greg McKelvey, executive vice president and chief strategy and digital officer of Fossil, believes that the new technology the company built will improve its existing platform of smartwatches.

This news comes the same day that Johnson and Johnson and Apple announced a collaboration to see how the Apple Watch can detect atrial fibrillation earlier.

And despite claims that wearable technology may be inaccurate in its health readings, the two announcements prove that major companies believe in the digital innovation.

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