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We’ve got a few bones to pick with Google.

First, Google Maps came under fire for repeatedly directing tourists visiting our country into dodgy areas where their windows get smashed and bones broken, and now they’re pulling the plug on the sale of some of their tech devices here.

Fitness device manufacturer Fitbit is withdrawing from the South African market after parent company Google made the decision that the SA market ain’t doing it for them anymore.

TechCentral reports that a Google spokesman said the company has decided to stop selling Fitbit and Nest products (both owned by the company) in select countries “to align our hardware portfolio to map closer to Pixel’s regional availability”.

Pixel is the brand name for Google’s series of smartphones, which was never ranged in the South African market. Unlike rivals such as Apple and Microsoft, Google has favoured launching its hardware portfolio mainly in developed markets. Boo, you.

But Fitbit has a long-standing presence in SA, pre-dating Google’s acquisition of the company in November 2019 in a deal worth $ 2.1 billion.

Google has stated that it remains committed to its customers here and “has not made any changes that impact the existing Nest and Fitbit devices they already own”.

Per Cape Talk, MyBroadband editor Jan Vermeulen reckons the reason for this withdrawal might be because the sales aren’t good here, while it could also be that Google is unifying and simplifying its gadgets/devices section.

“So, because they haven’t gone through the effort to launch Pixel in SA… your standard, regular Google devices are not available and now Fitbit is being lumped in with Google’s first party devices and being pulled out of the country because Google itself doesn’t have local distribution, local support and everything that goes with that… repairs, warranties, exchanges…” Vermeulen says.

“It certainly doesn’t build confidence in the brand,” he continues, adding that it “leaves a sour taste”:

“As a local consumer I would think twice about buying anything to do with Google when it comes to tech and gadgets as a result of this, because you don’t know if they’re just going to pull the plug on something that used to be distributed locally.”

Yeah, you might want to rethink your Fitbits and make the move over to Apple.

Digicape, South Africa’s largest independent Apple retailer, stocks Apple Watches, which are known to save lives. Just saying.

[source:capetalk&techcentral]