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I'm still bitter about Fitbit buying then destroying all of the IP from Pebble. Still the best smart watch ever made.

by cush 4y ago

sushid 4y ago
That's not quite what happened. Pebble was virtually dead and shopping around for an exit. Fitbit bought Pebble for its IP (i.e. patents) / soft acquihire. No one was going to be making the Pebble 3.
- arcbyte 4y ago
  As i recollect it, they had been launching product after product and were in the middle of launching pebble time 2 when they got bought. That's a far cry from "virtually dead"
  - sushid 4y ago
    Again, that's not quite true. They had barely managed to eke out the Pebble 2 the month prior but had been in distress for quite some time. They had a huge layoff earlier that year as well and were forced to raise a debt funding round sometime that year as well. The market was doing well but the CEO commented about how hard it was for hardware companies to raise funds, especially as hardware companies were getting crushed in the market. The truth is Apple came in and ate everyone lunch. Pebble was effectively dead the moment Apple announced their plans for a smartwatch.
- cush 4y ago
  It's exactly what happened. Fitbit bought (true) then destroyed the Pebble IP (true). Whether Pebble was a strong business or not makes no difference. Their tech was incredible and still better than most smart watches on the market today.
  - sushid 4y ago
    Pebble's IP was done for. No one wanted to make any more Pebbles including Pebble themself. They were acquihired by Fitbit. It wasn't a case of "we'll continue allowing team X to operate independently bait and switch." At the end of the day there wasn't a robust market for hacker-focused e-ink Android watches.
SyneRyder 4y ago
Still wearing my Pebble Time Steel daily, and recently bought a backup/replacement on eBay because the battery on mine is dying (down to barely 1-day of battery, from the original 10 days battery life). I really wish Rebble were putting more effort into keeping it alive. I understand the firmware is now open source, but it seems the efforts to make new hardware (or even replacement hardware) never really went anywhere. I'm grateful that they're keeping the app store & weather & voice recognition servers active, but it feels like they could do more. I guess I'm maybe looking for the Framework of smartwatches, with the aesthetics of the Time / Time Steel team.
- gnicholas 4y ago
  Ditto on the Time Steel. If they had told the V2 backers that they had to 2x the price to stay afloat, I would have paid it. My battery is around 4 days (assuming I remember to put it in airplane mode when I sleep), and I'm considering trying the ifixit battery replacement. I'm also hoping that the Apple Watch Ultra will turn out to have 5-ish days of battery life in low power mode after this fall's software update. I could consider an Apple Watch at that point, though I don't love the stylings of the AWU itself. Mostly I like the battery and the fact that the screen is flat and protected by a lip. Hopefully they can produce another variant that isn't quite so extreme sports-focused.

I'm still bitter about Fitbit buying then destroying all of the IP from Pebble. Still the best smart watch ever made.

by cush 4y ago

I'm still bitter about Fitbit buying then destroying all of the IP from Pebble. Still the best smart watch ever made.

That's not quite what happened. Pebble was virtually dead and shopping around for an exit. Fitbit bought Pebble for its IP (i.e. patents) / soft acquihire. No one was going to be making the Pebble 3.

arcbyte 4y ago
As i recollect it, they had been launching product after product and were in the middle of launching pebble time 2 when they got bought. That's a far cry from "virtually dead"
- sushid 4y ago
  Again, that's not quite true. They had barely managed to eke out the Pebble 2 the month prior but had been in distress for quite some time. They had a huge layoff earlier that year as well and were forced to raise a debt funding round sometime that year as well. The market was doing well but the CEO commented about how hard it was for hardware companies to raise funds, especially as hardware companies were getting crushed in the market. The truth is Apple came in and ate everyone lunch. Pebble was effectively dead the moment Apple announced their plans for a smartwatch.
cush 4y ago
It's exactly what happened. Fitbit bought (true) then destroyed the Pebble IP (true). Whether Pebble was a strong business or not makes no difference. Their tech was incredible and still better than most smart watches on the market today.
- sushid 4y ago
  Pebble's IP was done for. No one wanted to make any more Pebbles including Pebble themself. They were acquihired by Fitbit. It wasn't a case of "we'll continue allowing team X to operate independently bait and switch." At the end of the day there wasn't a robust market for hacker-focused e-ink Android watches.

SyneRyder 4y ago

Still wearing my Pebble Time Steel daily, and recently bought a backup/replacement on eBay because the battery on mine is dying (down to barely 1-day of battery, from the original 10 days battery life). I really wish Rebble were putting more effort into keeping it alive. I understand the firmware is now open source, but it seems the efforts to make new hardware (or even replacement hardware) never really went anywhere. I'm grateful that they're keeping the app store & weather & voice recognition servers active, but it feels like they could do more. I guess I'm maybe looking for the Framework of smartwatches, with the aesthetics of the Time / Time Steel team.

gnicholas 4y ago
Ditto on the Time Steel. If they had told the V2 backers that they had to 2x the price to stay afloat, I would have paid it. My battery is around 4 days (assuming I remember to put it in airplane mode when I sleep), and I'm considering trying the ifixit battery replacement. I'm also hoping that the Apple Watch Ultra will turn out to have 5-ish days of battery life in low power mode after this fall's software update. I could consider an Apple Watch at that point, though I don't love the stylings of the AWU itself. Mostly I like the battery and the fact that the screen is flat and protected by a lip. Hopefully they can produce another variant that isn't quite so extreme sports-focused.