Google is working on a new fitness service, dubbed “Google Fit,” expected to be launched at the Google I/O Developers event scheduled for June 25 and 26 in San Francisco, claims a new report.
Forbes reports, citing several sources familiar with company’s plans, that “Google Fit” will collect and aggregate user data through open APIs from various health monitoring and fitness tracking apps.
According to the report, the new service will be similar to the Health app and HealthKit platform from Apple, a part of iOS 8, but it’s unclear if Google Fit will be integrated into Android or launched as a standalone app. The company is expected to announce agreements with wearable device makers at the conference.
Forbes speculates that the new Google Fit service could serve as a hub for integrating data from various wearable devices with the company’s Android Wear Project focused on health monitoring, announced earlier this year.
This isn’t Google’s first foray into the health and fitness world, as the company had already faced a failure a few years ago, with its health portal – Google Health, a service launched in early 2008 with high hopes, touting health information as “the most important” type of search, but shut down in 2012 due to lack of public interest.
With this new Google Fit service, the company is hoping to take on, not just Apple, but also Samsung, that launched SAMI health platform last month, along with a prototype data-collecting wristband – Simband.
Google has refused to comment on the report. However, the company is expected to reveal more information about Google Fit, or even launch the service on the Day 2 of I/O conference – “Android and cloud” session, as the service is said to be tied to Google’s cloud based services.
