Garmin buys Firstbeat -> better sleep tracking?

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/06/garmin-shows-off-new-on-device-sleep-tracking-widgets.html

"But, what about others? I asked Garmin just that. Right now the plan is for it to come to all Garmin Fenix 6 & MARQ variants (beta already for that here), and then by the end of the year the Forerunner 945 will also get it. Hopefully we’ll see it expand more broadly than that. "

jmto said:

Hopefully we’ll see it expand more broadly than that. "

That would be nice, but I believe Garmin will still limit what features each watch gets.  There's been a few comments to DCR's article saying now that Garmin owns FirstBeat, there's no reason (licensing and fees) for these features not to be made available to all Gamin devices.  Well, Garmin has always practiced product differentiation for sales.  The 945 owners are capable of doing OWS and pairing to a power meter for cycling while those with the 245 cannot.  The F6 has workout videos and map themes where the 945 doesn't.  These are obviously not 3rd party features and they could easily be available on most devices.  Just my opinion and we'll have to wait and see what the future holds.

Well, that was Ray's hope. Of course one can always hope for it and for the comments "no reason" doesn't sound right, so I'm with you on that one.

What Ray didn't speculate was that even if they say they will continue licensing those they could just make the licensing fees higher and higher and higher... Also they could make the new algorithms to be Garmin only for year or two until releasing them to be licenced. Doesn't look good for others.

jmto said:

What Ray didn't speculate was that even if they say they will continue licensing those they could just make the licensing fees higher and higher and higher..

I think you're right.  There's probably something legally binding that existing manufactures with FirstBeat features will have to be supported at least until the contract is up if there's even a time limit on them.  I think Garmin will license at least some features to other manufactures at a higher fee until those companies sign elsewhere or develop their own metrics.  All speculation on my part as I have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever on business law and I'm sure the laws vary by country. 

My guess would be, Garmin will replace Firstbeat's sleep algorithm with their own, so all licensed customers of Firstbeat will get the same crappy sleep tracking.

I would imagine Garmin dumped already so much cash and effort into their proprietary sleep algorithm that they are unlikely to ditch it again.

tess said:

Well, Garmin has always practiced product differentiation for sales.

And just to expand on this -

"Well, virtually all manufacturers practice product differentiation for sales."

I fail to understand why some people feel Garmin should operate differently.

Dr Phil said:

I fail to understand why some people feel Garmin should operate differently.

I don't know about your neck of the woods Phil, but where I'm from the the new flavor of the month is entitlement and everyone gets a trophy.  If you have it, so should I even if unearned or if I pay for it.  It's quite sad.