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Pebble Gets Acquired By Fitbit - Ends Production and Ceases Support Of Its Existing Lineup of Smartwatches (getpebble.com)
Reader phorm writes: In a notice to Kickstarter backers, pebble has stated that -- following the acquisition by Fitbit (official now) -- they will no longer promote, manufacture, or sell devices. Further, while existing functionality may continue, it is likely to be degraded and warranty support will no longer be provided. This includes any recently shipped Pebble models. For those that were eagerly awaiting shipment of Pebble Time 2 and other newer devices, those devices will not ship at all. Pebble has indicated refunds will be made within 4-8 weeks. Those expecting their money may not want to hold their breath, however, because a contradictory statement made by to backers by email says that refunds will be made via Kickstarter by March 2017.Fitbit said it is only purchasing software assets from Pebble.
I think this sums it up best
I'm sorry, but wouldn't Fitbit be obligated to honor the original warranty (or whatever laws are in place in the nation it was purchased in)?
Get bought out before dropping support. Laugh all the way to the bank.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
I backed the original Pebble, then later the Pebble Time Steel. I had backed the Pebble Time 2, and I am HIGHLY disappointed with both Pebble and Fitbit for not honoring those pledges. Even with degraded support or updates, I would have loved to have what I paid for. And shame on Fitbit for not honoring support or warranty for the company they are buying. The worst of it is there are users with BRAND NEW Pebble 2 devices, only days old, that now have no warranty and no support period. What's even worse is that there are no other comparable smart watches. I'm one of the few that love smart watches, despite the current trend and downfall of many of them, as I've owned them going back to Calculator Watches, then Fossil Abacus PalmOS 4.x watch, and many others. I tried a Android Wear watch but grew dissatisfied with it as the battery on both those and Apple watches in most cases do not even last a full day and are now *always on* display like ePaper watches are. I tried a Fitbit way back, as a health monitoring before they added step counters into Pebble. I hated it, and got it returned after the device stopped working a month or two later. This only solidifies my opinion of "Never again Fitbit"
Who on earth is eagerly awaiting a Pebble Time 2? Who actually wants a Pebble Time 2?
Apparently not even FitBit wants one...and that's saying something because there is little in the world more useless than a FitBit. We have two Charge HR's in the house and they are not durable and not accurate for their intended use.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
And thus begins the consolidation of smart watch companies. We saw that Basis was killed off a few months ago by Intel. At least Intel was so kind as to offer full refunds for all of the watches.
Legalities aside, if this is how Fitbit treats existing customers now during an acquisition, I have no faith they'll do any better on their other products whenever they can get out of it.
I've seen some Garmin products at the store - probably I'll get one of those instead. At least they have a reputation for long-term support of their products.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Who on their right mind is going to spend hundreds of dollars for some minor functionality?
Back in the 1980s, I remember thinking "If only there was a way to have my girlfriend (at the time) send me her pulse so I could feel her love on my own wrist in real-time. Of course the technology wasn't there, and wouldn't be for some time, so I had to settle for her bloody heart in a jar and 25 years in a psychiatric hospital.
Trolling is a art,
>> People funded product, product happens, people who built product sells out to competitor, product is killed
Let's hope people have learned their lesson: any money they give through Kickstarter should be for entertainment purposes only. You're basically buying movie popcorn, at best.
And on a general point this just demonstrates why "smart" watches suck. They're closed platforms and when the platform is discontinued you're left with a bitrotten brain dead piece of crap. Just one more reason to buy a dumb watch.
My Pebble Time Steel died Dec 4th. No wonder I was not getting any replies to my warranty support requests and emails. It is also sad that Fitbit is unlikely to make a device like the Pebble. 10 days of runtime with an always on screen was a wonderful feature.
It looks decent:
http://consumer.huawei.com/en/...
Fitness oriented but nevertheless it has 6-14 day battery life and always on LCD screen.
That source is in financial trouble and unable to produce the displays Pebble depends on.
Therefore Pebble has no products to sell and thus no cash flow.
Therefore Pebble has had to wind down operations and pay off creditors.
Pebble's IP has some value to Fitbit and hiring a few of Pebble's suddenly-available engineers is a no-brainer but Fitbit has no interest in the Pebble company or it's products.
The lesson is to be very leery of DEPENDING on a single source supplier. Pebble was a healthy going concern until they could no longer get their needed displays. Then it went off the rails.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
And now its watch has ended
Purchasing a rival company for the express purpose of putting them out of business is a crime in the US. Why is there not an anti-trust investigation into this?
Personally.... I don't agree.
However, it's not about any objection to Apple Watches, but to the idea behind them. Think about what you get with one of these and tell me it's worth what you pay for them. Except for the "coolness" factor, I don't really see where the things a smart watch can do are all that useful.
They tell time: but my analog watch does that, even when I don't have my phone around.
They can buzz and show you text messages or phone calls, but they have to be within Bluetooth range of your phone anyway, so you will have your phone on your person and it can buzz you too. I don't see the advantage of this feature.
I hear you can use your apple watch to originate a text, but for the life of me I cannot imagine it being worth the extra effort to text with an obviously clunky user interface over using that phone in your pocket.
Then there are the "health and Exercise" features like a pedometer to count your steps or monitoring your heart rate, but in both cases doing that kind of sensing is hard so it turns out to be of dubious accuracy and limited application. The pedometer function can be approximated on your phone with almost the same accuracy level, and the heart rate monitor is more of a "it's faster" or "slower" indicator that is of zero clinical use beyond that.
Finally there is the battery life problem. These wrist worn smart devices are of significantly limited size and weight. Doing all the "smart" stuff requires power and power requires batteries that are sizeable and of significant weight. This means that the more stuff your wrist device does, the more often you will have to take it off for a few hours and charge it. My standby analog watch can wind itself when I wear it and only comes off when I bathe or swim (because it's not water proof).
So if you want to have one for the wow isn't that cool factor, knock yourself out. However, some of us are not impressed with gadgets that really don't enhance our lives or serve a useful purpose.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
What about the people who buy the products in stores who are getting screwed as well?
You've got it all wrong. It's an expensive piece of plastic junk. :-)
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
But Pebble was an actual product, sold as an actual product outside Kickstarter.
Brick and Mortar stores sold Pebble.
- Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
It was the only smartwatch that met my needs, and it did so well enough that it has become indispensable to me. Now there's nothing on the market that I'm aware of that can replace it.
Sure you can. The Apple Watch is an entirely different device than the Pebble, and is trying to accomplish very different goals. For my needs, the Apple Watch would be an absolutely awful choice, mostly due to it's dismal battery life and lack of an always-on screen.
I bought a number of Pebbles, but not a single one of them through Kickstarter.
Why on earth would I do that? I don't own an iPhone.
Improvise, adapt, and overcome.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Funny thing about Pebble is that they weren't a "smart watch" company. They were a data mining Silicon Valley company. Pebble was looking for more data scientists than they were giving a damn about making a hardware product. I met a few of them.
The hardware product was just barely a thing to allow them to collect the data they wanted (where their real attempt at money was in data collection and sales). "Big Data" is going belly up it seems.
I read this blog post and wish I could get a refund for the minute of my time wasted on this companies rank nonsense.
They dump everything, say you should expect what you purchased to fail to work properly, assert all warranties retroactively null and void attempting to zero out all outstanding liabilities... They then sell all assets to another company and finally have the guts to promote that new company.
If I owned a pebble I would sue them to just to prove a point. There is something really wrong with tech industry culture and it is only getting worse.
So saying by March 2017 isn't really that out of sync.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I've wanted a Pebble for a while after playing with one in the store. I actually liked it better and the Apple Watch and Android offerings. Sad to see them go. Maybe I can pick one up cheap now.
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
You quite clearly are not a lawyer, or at least not one that deals with winding up businesses. Such an asset purchase agreement is considered a preferential transfer, and can be claimed in a claw back lawsuit by other creditors, or declared void by a magistrate. If the transfer was made with the intent to benefit only some creditors or owners, then the transfer could also be considered fraud.
Ohh, and the captcha was ethics.
In this case it turns out that they did do an assignment in bankrupcy, so the bankruptcy approved the disposition of the assets clear of the liabilities. Without that, you don't get to just dispose of the assets to a 3rd party and leave everyone in the lurch - the people left in the lurch also have a legal claim to those same assets, no matter whose hands they are found in.
Try giving away everything you own and then declaring bankruptcy. Any debtor can contest the bankruptcy at that point - one of my friends did exactly that - contested a bankruptcy and held it up for a year - and in the end the judge discharged the debtor of everything except the money owed my friend ($20k or so). You have to do the bankruptcy first, then obtain approval to dispose of the assets so as to make the best recovery possible for the creditors.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
i bought my first one in march of this year. it was dead by september. i complained to support and they gave me a new one. my friend who suggested i get a fitbit got hers in february, and it was dead by october. wayyyyyyyyyy too much money for the cheap piece of plastic junk that you get.
You know you have to charge them, right? ;-)
"I love animals! Some are cute, others are tasty, what's not to like?" - Betsy Schroeder, Jeopardy contestant
I own an original Pebble from Kickstarter, which I bought before owning a compatible smartphone. Since I'm into running, I ended up replacing my Pebble with a Garmin smartwatch that also provided GPS and a heartrate monitor. (Were I not into running, I'd still be using that original Pebble, since it did everything else I wanted.) I feel like Pebble really started the smart watch revolution, and they did it right -- a simple watch that works with your phone, without attempting to replace it. Unfortunately for them, once the idea was out, any other company could copy it, and that's exactly what happened.
Sadly, the first to market is rarely the one who lasts the longest. Hydrox is gone, but Oreos are here to stay.
They improved over time... the hardware on the original pebbles was a little flaky, with screen tearing that could be fixed with some tape and a screwdriver. Mempry was also in short supply, which is why it crashed a lot more than later pebbles.
They didn't give away any assets. They sold them.
The money they received is an asset equal in value to what they disposed of (the IP)
That isn't anything like "giving away everything you own and then declaring bankruptcy"
One less gadget to make you angry that it exists.
You should see somebody about that problem.
FitBit products die wether you charge them or not.
They produce very poor quality devices.
I bought my Pebble Steel after my FitBit died. Now the bastards have chased after me to fuck me over some more. It was only $99 so I am not out that much. They had better not pull the app from the Play Store, but I suspect they will as soon as they can.
FitBit is the new Sony in my world. Or the new Iomega.
They can buzz and show you text messages or phone calls, but they have to be within Bluetooth range of your phone anyway, so you will have your phone on your person and it can buzz you too. I don't see the advantage of this feature
No they don't. They have wifi.
I hear you can use your apple watch to originate a text, but for the life of me I cannot imagine it being worth the extra effort to text with an obviously clunky user interface over using that phone in your pocket.
You can speak into it.
dubious accuracy
All pedometers are inaccurate. The important thing is that it consistent from day to day (which they are).
limited application
I guess you need to ask all of the people that bought fitbits and other fitness trackers and use fitness tracking apps on their other non-dedicated fitness tracker devices if it's limited application.
However, some of us are not impressed
Some of us at least understand the features and limitations which help us make decisions.
But Pebble was an actual product, sold as an actual product outside Kickstarter.
Yes, but in the end, Pebble closed up shop like a Kickstarter project. The problem is the culture. A solid company would have found *some* buyer at some price point before it came to this, so if nothing else the lights could be kept on for a few years. In the end they walked away from all of their customers leaving them with a piece of cheap plastic.
You're projecting again. Please take your own advice and see someone about that problem. Or continue in denial. No skin off anyone else's nose.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
I will boycott fitbit if they completely kill off pebble support and don't open source code either.
A solid company would have found *some* buyer at some price point before it came to this
Like, maybe, Citizen?
I'm not going to blame Fitbit. But they didn't earn any positive karma, either.
Nor am I surprised that the real reason came out of the blue, after it was too late to inform my decision (I would have bought one for spare, while supplies lasted).
Emphasis with Kickstarter is "start". Then it quickly morphs (usually) into the same old close-to-the-vest business wisdom, and you end up with half of the advantage you wished for, and a quarter as much stability as a going concern.
I have zero interest in any other smart watch.
Sigh. It's a sad thing.
So can you: Form a company. Give a lifetime warranty. Go out of business?? If so, so much for customer loyalty.
They tell time: but my analog watch does that, even when I don't have my phone around.
The Apple Watch doesn't need your phone around to tell the time either. So; it's at least as good as an analog watch for this purpose (barring battery life discussions anyway).
They can buzz and show you text messages or phone calls, but they have to be within Bluetooth range of your phone anyway, so you will have your phone on your person and it can buzz you too. I don't see the advantage of this feature.
You don't need to be in bluetooth range, although that's one option- wifi works too. This is actually something I find quite useful:
* My phone is always on silent and I don't always notice the buzz. It's much harder to miss a wrist notification.
* I can quickly determine whether it's something that needs urgent attention or whether I can ignore it until next time I pick up my phone.
* I still have access and visibility while in the shower, swimming, or if I've left my phone in the bedroom while working in another room.
I hear you can use your apple watch to originate a text, but for the life of me I cannot imagine it being worth the extra effort to text with an obviously clunky user interface over using that phone in your pocket.
It's really not, but I guess it's nice to have it available as a backup option (eg. if somebody else is using my phone and I don't want to interrupt them; or if i'm in the shower or holding something heavy and an urgent reply is warranted). In practice I don't use this, but I can see that some people might find it useful. You can also talk and listen via the watch, not just text.
Then there are the "health and Exercise" features like a pedometer to count your steps or monitoring your heart rate, but in both cases doing that kind of sensing is hard so it turns out to be of dubious accuracy and limited application. The pedometer function can be approximated on your phone with almost the same accuracy level, and the heart rate monitor is more of a "it's faster" or "slower" indicator that is of zero clinical use beyond that.
Yes and no. I think that health tracking is a big deal in the long run, but I agree that what we have now has too many compromises to be a killer feature. It's still nice to be able to track your heart rate and other exercise metrics over time, notice how lifestyle changes affect your daily walking distance, etc. For people who are serious about exercise, I'm sure that this is a killer feature, although there may be cheaper devices if that's the only feature they want. It's also nice how Apple aggregates data from multiple devices.
Finally there is the battery life problem. These wrist worn smart devices are of significantly limited size and weight. Doing all the "smart" stuff requires power and power requires batteries that are sizeable and of significant weight. This means that the more stuff your wrist device does, the more often you will have to take it off for a few hours and charge it.
It is possible to flatten the device prematurely, much like it's possible to flatten a smartphone quickly. That said, it's good enough for normal usage and it charges fast. Some people charge it overnight. I personally charge it at my desk during the day; it only means taking the watch off for an hour. People who drive to work could charge it during the drive. Would it be nice to have it last a month or more? For sure. But the 1.5-day battery life is not a killer, or even a meaningful annoyance in most cases.
My standby analog watch can wind itself when I wear it and only comes off when I bathe or swim (because it's not water proof).
I don't generally take the Apple Watch off while bathing or swimming. This is a gen 1 watch, so it's not even officially waterproof but it's rated against anything short of diving so it's fine for doing laps in the pool.
Bonus feature I like: Find my phone.
This is an excellent point actually. Having the watch be able to ping the phone saves a lot of time hunting for phones that are under a pillow or have fallen into the sofa.
And what did Bam Bam have to say about this?
Just another day in Paradise
FitBit products die wether you charge them or not.
They produce very poor quality devices.
Hmm. That's not been my experience.
I got the original series Pebble the Christmas before last, and it worked [Great, Awesome, Love It! -> Works OK, with some occasional screen artifacts -> Starting to get glitchy, almost unusable screen and stopped taking software updates -> Pretty much dead, can't even read the screen when it decides to wake up at all] over the course of the next ten months. Last Christmas I got a FitBit Blaze which is still going strong. It's not nearly as flexible as the Pebble was in terms of customization and adding options, but it does what it said it would do and the heart rate monitor is very reliable. The battery doesn't last quite as long as the Pebble did, but I still get a solid 5 days between charges after a year of use, so I can't complain.
OTOH my husband has a Pebble Time Round that he purchased only 3 or 4 months ago, and so far he seems happy with it. I think both platforms have a lot to offer, so I am sad that the flexibility of the Pebble platform will now (likely) be lost.
"I love animals! Some are cute, others are tasty, what's not to like?" - Betsy Schroeder, Jeopardy contestant
There's an open source app called GadgetBridge that will support all the basics for Pebbles, and will keep working even if the Pebble cloud dies. You will still be able to load new apps and watchfaces and re-flash firmware. Apps that need to access the Internet may not work (for now, devs can contribute). As a side-bonus you get greatly increased privacy.
This is Android only, I don't know if there's an iOS equivalent (anyone?).
I'd like to make a product just annoying and threatening enough to the dominant player in a field that I can sell it to them for a few hundred million.
To do that, I need your support. Please fund my project - if I go through normal (regulated) investment channels, I'll have to share the proceeds with my investors and I don't want to do that....so crowdfunding is perfect.
Backer rewards include branding "sucker" on the forehead with a hot iron for $1000.
Thanks. You have my undying gratitude, loyalty, and respect.