Pebble Has Officially Been Sold off to Fitbit

iridiumstem on 08/12/2016 - 01:46
Last edited 08/12/2016 - 10:00

Pebble has officially been sold off to Fitbit. To quote them from kickstarter page:

Fitbit has agreed to acquire key Pebble assets. Due to various factors, Pebble can no longer operate as an independent entity, and we have made the tough decision to shut down the company.

Pebble is ceasing all hardware operations. We are no longer manufacturing, promoting, or selling any new products.

On their blog they've mentioned that:

  • Kickstarter backers who have not received their rewards will receive a full refund within 4-8 weeks as a chargeback to their credit cards.

  • Warranty support is no longer available for Pebble watches.

  • Pebble devices will continue to work as normal. No immediate changes to the Pebble user experience will happen at this time.

  • Pebble functionality or service quality may be reduced in the future.

Along with other bits and pieces that I didn't copy and paste.

EDIT: They changed their blog post a little to:

  • Kickstarter backers who have not received their rewards will receive a full refund by December 16, 2016 to their credit cards.
Electrical & Electronics

Related Stores

Pebble Smartwatch
Pebble Smartwatch

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 08/12/2016 - 06:56
    +3

    ):

  • [Deactivated] on 08/12/2016 - 07:17

    Any alternatives to Pebble for iOS, find smartwatches really handy but the Crapple Watch is slightly too expensive :)

    • iridiumstem on 08/12/2016 - 07:38

      I am sure current Pebbles wouldn't suddenly become inactive or unusable. I am kinda sad about Pebble's demise since I did like what they were offering.

      Maybe something from Android Wear? Fitbit did buy the assets from Pebble, they might produce something similiar in future. Maybe they did not wanted to take over the entire business because they already have production lines they can use? Who knows.

      • lupiter on 08/12/2016 - 07:52

        It's looking a lot like an aqui-hire, since Fitbit has canceled all pre-orders of upcoming Pebble products.

        • iridiumstem on 08/12/2016 - 07:56

          I've heard that they bought IPs and took over the software division from Pebble, so probably. Speculations I've seen were suggesting that they were after the OS and the software sides. Though, I am not too sure on validity of the speculations and what exactly Fitbit was after ("key Pebble assets" is what Pebble have mentioned).

          Pebble did shutdown, who knows what Fitbit will do with what it took from Pebble.

        • [Deactivated] on 08/12/2016 - 08:58

          @Oversimplified: they say they will phase out the servers in the future, withouts pebble's servers pebbles won't work.

        • CyberMurning on 08/12/2016 - 09:03

          @TheClipIt: really? how come? i thought smart watch just need to connect to phone using bluetooth and thats all. i know no new software but should work without server?

        • [Deactivated] on 08/12/2016 - 09:04

          @dragonindespair:

          • App Store
          • Voice Dictation
          • Watchfaces are loaded onto the watch, but are downloaded on to the phone via Pebble's servers

          So if you don't mind having no watch face, no apps and no dictation then your Pebble's fine :)

        • CyberMurning on 08/12/2016 - 09:11

          @TheClipIt: holy molly lucky i didnt buy - almost bought last year and year before

        • iridiumstem on 08/12/2016 - 09:19

          @TheClipIt: Though you can technically download all the watch faces/apps before it disappears into the abyss, right?

          Sorry if I sound little bit dumb on this, never owned a Pebble.

        • [Deactivated] on 08/12/2016 - 09:47

          @Oversimplified: Only a few most used apps / watch faces are actually stores on a pebble, all the others are downloaded when you open them.

          Edit: A redditor completely archived Pebble's app store so potentially you could download them from there

        • iridiumstem on 08/12/2016 - 09:49

          @TheClipIt: :S My deepest condolence to you then. I thought at least you could store apps/watchfaces on the phone.

        • [Deactivated] on 08/12/2016 - 09:52

          @Oversimplified: Still works for the moment anyway :)

          Still could be usable on android through gadget bridge so it won't be completely useless.

          Gonna have a go at downloading the Pebble app store via the link above.

        • iridiumstem on 08/12/2016 - 09:53

          @TheClipIt: Good luck. :)

  • CyberMurning on 08/12/2016 - 08:52

    all the hypes just last for couple of years. it is impossible a company can last just from one product like peeble.
    https://forums.pebble.com/t/pebble-is-in-big-financial-troub…

    and fitbit will kill it for sure…
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/07/fitbit_buys_pebble_k…

  • cypher67 on 08/12/2016 - 09:27

    A few thoughts. Smart move by Pebble to get out now, they got in at the ground floor but realised that they wouldn't have the financial backing to keep up with the big boys now that smart watches are taking on more functionality. This enables them a final payday and not force them to bleed themselves dry trying to keep up. On the flip side I see it as a bad move by Fitbit not to maintain the pebble brand and its target audience. No doubt it was driven by the operational costs but still its disappointing that the technology business moves too fast for new players to keep up and stay relevant.

    • Diji1 on 08/12/2016 - 11:41

      Nope, the wearables sector is in free fall. No one is buying them.

  • whirlpool_guy on 08/12/2016 - 09:33

    Sad day indeed. Any other smart watches that can last > 7 days with one charge?

    • CyberMurning on 08/12/2016 - 09:46

      tizen o/s by samsung can last 3-4 with light usage.
      android wears? impossible.

    • iridiumstem on 08/12/2016 - 09:47

      Probably those hybrid ones like the ones in this list?

      Other than that, Gear S3's battery life have been amazing for me (for a smartwatch without e-paper display of course).

  • CyberMurning on 08/12/2016 - 09:47

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010Q4OX70/

    USD59.99 now. but cant ship here.

  • ChillBro on 08/12/2016 - 09:57

    Whats especially annoying is that for kickstarters for the pebble time 2, we don't even know if we can get the item (which was meant to ship in November). Some say the refund policy was even removed.

    • iridiumstem on 08/12/2016 - 09:58

      "Kickstarter backers who have not received their rewards will receive a full refund within 4-8 weeks as a chargeback to their credit cards."

      At least that's what their page says.

      EDIT: They changed it to:

      Kickstarter backers who have not received their rewards will receive a full refund by December 16, 2016 to their credit cards. No further action is needed. For more information, please visit our Support page.

      It may take up to ten business days for the refund to appear on a backer’s credit or debit card statement. In the event that the initial refund attempt is unsuccessful, steps will be taken to ensure all refunds are successfully processed. Once a refund is successfully processed, backers will receive an email from Kickstarter notifying them of the amount of the refund and the payment source refunded.

  • tonyjzx on 08/12/2016 - 10:06

    amazing story behind this if true

    they turned down an offer of $740 mil. from Citizen

    then this final offer of $30-$40 mil. barely covers their debts

    sad!

    • [Deactivated] on 08/12/2016 - 10:11

      And they turned down 90mil from intel

    • iridiumstem on 08/12/2016 - 10:16

      That kind of thing happens, Yahoo was sold at $4.83 billion dollars this year.
      Their peak value was over $125 billion dollars, they even had a $44.6 billion acquisition offer from Microsoft in 2007.

      http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/25/business/yahoo-sale.html?_…

      • lgacb08 on 09/12/2016 - 05:53

        That happened when you got some arrogant (profanity) running the business thinking their products ruled the world.

        • iridiumstem on 10/12/2016 - 07:16

          Eh, be fair, hindsight is 20/20. It's kinda hard to judge your company's future, perhaps the CEO thought there was a chance of somehow changing the projectory of the company. Perhaps there actually was a chance, a glimse of hope, somehow.

    • CyberMurning on 08/12/2016 - 10:18

      story of humans' greed. not surprising

    • NiteMice on 14/12/2016 - 14:15

      Word on the street these days is that Citizen deal wouldn't have gone through because Pebble were already in financial trouble.

      Either once Citizen had a look at the books, they bailed, or they didn't even get that far.

  • CyberMurning on 08/12/2016 - 11:04
    -1

    can anyone see the issue here is battery?
    why not instead of creating new processor or smart watch, all smart companies work together to improve the battery? (ie not making chip that uses less energy but make a new battery tech that last longer)

    • Diji1 on 08/12/2016 - 11:40
      +1

      You appear to believe that they can just spend some money and hey presto, amazing breakthrough in battery life.

    • iridiumstem on 08/12/2016 - 12:54

      Because, if things worked out that way, it would have happened long time ago. There are better technologies for batteries as well that still are not implemented on product level, those are either too difficult to implement in large scale, too expensive etc etc. That said, given how two of the players in smartphone produces batteries, Samsung SDI and LG Chem, and how they produce tonnes of product that uses battery, I don't think it'd be lack of trying.

      If someone comes up with easily implementable advancement in battery technology, smartphone industry is literally fraction of what they can do with it. Imagine what breakthrough like you are suggesting could do.

      • CyberMurning on 08/12/2016 - 13:18

        yeah agree. so sick of hearing/reading lithium ion already.
        so old tech just like dinosaurs age.

  • Diji1 on 08/12/2016 - 11:39
    -1

    Smartwatches - well, wearables period - are on the way out as people realise they're pointless and in some cases lower the wearers quality of life.

    • sane on 08/12/2016 - 13:27
      +1

      Actually they are far from pointless, particularly if you do them right (as pebble did). However they haven't captured the public's imagination - mainly it seems because of the hash of it that apple made.

      My guess is they will see a resurgence in connection with AR technology and the eventual death of the smartphone.

  • [Deactivated] on 08/12/2016 - 16:27
    +1

    Just finished downloading the entire Pebble Appstore :)

    Just read that Fitbit intends to keep Pebble's servers going until further notice so I might get a year more out of my PTS

    • sane on 09/12/2016 - 13:29

      My guess is the voice bit might go - they have to pay for more than servers for that.

  • uzz30 on 08/12/2016 - 17:32
    +1

    Sad about this. My simple Pebble watch serves me very well. It's a good example of doing a few things well, not trying to do everything mediocre. I'll have to take good care of it now with no replacements available.

  • [Deactivated] on 23/12/2016 - 15:14

    Rebble is working on new software / App Store

    • iridiumstem on 23/12/2016 - 15:35

      Nice! I have a doubt about them keeping all the features running (let's face it, a company couldn't keep up with the cost, a community probably wouldn't be able to sustain all features), that said, if they could allow Pebble to have a lot of its features offline, I think that'd be wonderful.

      • [Deactivated] on 23/12/2016 - 15:46

        Fitbit says they're going to keep Pebble running through 2017. Rebble could never get voice to continue but if they could 1) get a new App Store (in progress) and 2) Continue to update an iOS app for Pebble (the current will probably stop working reliably come iOS 11) it'd be great.

        • iridiumstem on 23/12/2016 - 16:39

          Yeah I think something similar to that is reasonable to expect and would actually be something that'd make pebble useful after fit bit pulls out.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join