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Don't say it often, but this is very nice of Google and they really didn't have to. Credit where it's due
by spencerflem 2y ago
Don't say it often, but this is very nice of Google and they really didn't have to.
Credit where it's due
- GuB-42 2y agoYep, that's the kind of thing I would have expected "don't be evil" Google from 20 years ago to do. All is not lost.
- skort 2y ago[flagged]
- RobotToaster 2y agoIt feels like they deliberately sat on it until it's almost completely dead.
- freedomben 2y agoFortunately you don't need to go on your feelings, because people involved have told us exactly what happened. RePebble guy (Eric) reached out, asked them to open source, they spent a ton of effort to get it releasable, and did just that. Unless you think everybody involved is lying.
- elaus 2y agoI prefer to shit on companies that don't even do "the bare minimum" and never publish source code of their dead products. Today, this is not Google.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- scarface_74 2y agoI’m the first to criticize Google and say they have the attention span of a crack addled flea. But I have to commend them for this.
- _2d30 2y agoPebble went bankrupt because no one bought their products. Their assets were acquired by Fitbit. Fitbit did not continue to produce the Pebble products for which there was very limited demand. Google then later acquired Fitbit.
- dtquad 2y agoBig Tech companies acquired and acqu-hired many unsustainable small and medium sized businesses in the past 16 years. Most people don't know that because seller doesn't want to admit they were a bad unsustainable business and buyer doesn't want to admit they are buying a bad unsustainable business.
- tadfisher 2y agoThey sold 2 million units, which is nothing to sneeze at for a Kickstarter-funded project. What they miscalculated was the demand for the Pebble Time, for which they spent too much money on R&D and marketing to justify the results. They should have iterated on the original design, making it cheaper, smaller, and longer-lasting. Instead they tried to go upmarket and compete with the Apple Watch, with predictable results.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- CamouflagedKiwi 2y agoGoogle didn't "vacuum up" Pebble. Fitbit bought them (after they were in financial trouble), Google bought Fitbit later so ended up owning the Pebble source code after that. As the top voted comment on the article says, Google didn't have to do this. It's probably driven by only a few people internally there, and if everyone's cynical and nasty about it, they're less likely to try doing the nice thing again next time. That isn't a good outcome.
- dtquad 2y ago>We should be more upset that projects get acquired, shut down, and never see the light of day again because these massive companies must continue to expand at all costs. >Stop treating mega corporations like they've done you a favor when they've done the bare minimum. Most of the projects that got acquired and acqu-hired by mega-corporations were bad unsustainable businesses.
- bombcar 2y agoMany, MANY acquihires are just someone at a large company being nice. Google should get credit for this, especially if you think it's the bare minimum - to encourage others to do similar things.
- sushid 2y agoThey didn't have to do this. They didn't even acquire Pebble outright, they acquired it through Fitbit, and Pebble was just a part of Fitbit's portfolio from a previous acquisition.
- mavamaarten 2y agoYes and no. They did buy it and just let it die. They were so far ahead of the competition at the time.
- devrand 2y agoIt was dead long before Google was involved. Pebble filed for insolvency back in 2016 with Fitbit acquiring much of the assets. It was dead at this point. 5 years later Google bought Fitbit.
- hnlurker22 2y agoLooks like there is money in the business of hyped-dying startups. First Pebble, then Beeper, and now Pebble again.
- xeromal 2y agoIs beeper dead?
- hnlurker22 2y agoTaken over by Automattic after a publicity-stunt against Apple
- xeromal 2y agoOof. That stinks.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- hackernewds 2y agois there no end to the cynicism?