Fossil Group acquires Misfit; wil include Misfit's tech into its wearables next year

Fossil Group has just married the concept of traditional wearables with today's modern fitness trackers. The luxury watch maker plans to incorporate technology from Misfit, Inc. into its devices as early as 2016.

Based in California, Misfit is a hardware company that designs and makes wearable products packed with sensor technology. Fossil Group has announced it will acquire Misfit for an undisclosed sum. The group is one of the world’s top watch and accessories manufacturers, with a broad array of men’s and women’s fashion watches, jewelry and handbags, plus retail outlets in some 150 countries.

Founded in 2011, Misfit has been making affordable yet stylish fitness monitors such as the Shine 2. This wearable device operates for as long as six months on one single battery. Since then, Misfit has also launched other devices such as sleep monitors and smart light bulbs.

Although it’s been working hand in hand with Speedo, Misfit’s never been able to overtake Nike or Fitbit, which are the top contenders in the fitness tracking market, according to Tech Times. Now that it’s been acquired by Fossil Group, Misfit just might be able to cross that barrier, however.

"We have a significant opportunity to add technology and connectivity across our platform of watches and accessories," stated Kosta Kartsotis, the CEO of Fossil Group, according to Globe News Wire.

"With the acquisition of Misfit, Fossil Group will be uniquely positioned to lead the convergence of style and technology and to become the fashion gateway to the high growth wearable technology and connected device markets."

It’s become clear that watch makers are gradually embracing new technology. The launch of the Apple Watch served as a wake-up call for traditional watch manufacturers.

Shortly after the Cupertino tech giant released its wearable device, Tag Heuer stepped into the smartwatch industry. Now, luxury watch company Fossil has acquired Misfit to cement its place in the smartwatch industry.

So far, it remains unknown how Fossil Group's acquisition of Misfit will impact the company. Plus, at this point, consumers can only speculate what Fossil smartwatches will look like now that Misfit technology will be part of the device.

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