Hey, put down the pizza, cast aside the popcorn, dump the beer and listen up – a certain Web giant is said to be jumping on the “let’s fine-tune our bodies” bandwagon with a soon-to-launch service called Google Fit.
The service, which is expected to launch at the Google I/O developer bash taking place in San Francisco on June 25 and 26, will pull together and organize data from fitness trackers and health-related apps through open APIs, Forbes said in a report Thursday.
Citing “multiple sources” with inside knowledge of Google’s plans, the report went on to say that to enable the easy collection of data, the Mountain View company has struck deals with makers of a number of wearable devices, details of which will be given at I/O.
It’s not currently known if Google is planning to build its fitness service into a future version of Android or simply launch it as an app users can download, though we won’t be surprised to see it worked into wearable devices running Android Wear. Again, we can expect to hear more details in a couple of weeks, with several sessions covering wearable tech planned for I/O.
If you’ve just caught yourself muttering, “This all sounds kinda familiar,” then you’re right. It’s not a million miles away from what Apple is planning to do with its recently announced HealthKit service, which, when it launches with iOS 8 later this year, will also collect health- and fitness-related data from devices like Nike’s FuelBand activity tracker.
Samsung, too, is muscling in on health and fitness, recently offering up details on SAMI, a cloud-based platform for the analysis and sharing of health data collected from various fitness apps and devices.
Google’s last foray into the world of wellness ended in 2012 with the closure of Google Health, a service that allowed users to organize and track online their health care records and requirements.
The Web company will be hoping that with wearable tech gaining popularity, its latest fitness-focused effort will prove a hit with consumers looking to improve their health. However, if you’re the type that prefers pizza to push-ups, you can just ignore all this and carry on as normal.
