Fitbit Buys Vector, Romanian Startup's Existing Smartwatches Won't Receive Software Updates Anymore (engadget.com)

An anonymous reader shares an Engadget report: One of the more surprising smartwatches of 2015 was from Vector, a Romanian startup led by former Citizen executives. Its 30-day battery life, Pebble-esque UI and classic watch design made it a great device for someone seeking a less ostentatiously geeky wearable. Now, the company has revealed that Fitbit has purchased it and its employees will be joining the fitness wearables firm. Unfortunately for Vector owners, Fitbit will be integrating Vector's hardware and software know-how into its own organization. That means that Vector, as a brand, will die off, and while its watches will remain operational, you can kiss any hope for software updates and new hardware goodbye.

Comments

One-sided summary

[Anonymous Coward]

The summary, to me, reads as though Fitbit is the villain. It could just as easily been written something like this:

Smartwatch maker Vector has gone bankrupt. Vector, as a brand, will die off, and while its watches will remain operational, you can kiss any hope for software updates and new hardware goodbye. Fitbit has purchased it and its employees will be joining the fitness wearables firm, who will be hard at work integrating Vector's hardware and software know-how into their new organization.

All those employees will remain employed now, hooray! But positiveness doesn't sell ad impressions.

Re:One-sided summary

[Archangel Michael]

I've read the summary, and the linked article, and from both I didn't get the whole "bankrupt" thing. If you're going to present new information, at least link a source so we can verify.

I did see where Pebble went bankrupt and Fitbit bought its assets (last month), but I have seen no such news on Vector. Could you please link to a source for your claim?

Re:One-sided summary

[Freischutz]

The summary, to me, reads as though Fitbit is the villain. It could just as easily been written something like this:

Smartwatch maker Vector has gone bankrupt. Vector, as a brand, will die off, and while its watches will remain operational, you can kiss any hope for software updates and new hardware goodbye. Fitbit has purchased it and its employees will be joining the fitness wearables firm, who will be hard at work integrating Vector's hardware and software know-how into their new organization.

All those employees will remain employed now, hooray! But positiveness doesn't sell ad impressions.

A shitload of devices are now orphaned because some bean counter at Fitbit ran an Excel model and decided that stiffing all those customers was cost effective business decision. That makes Fitbit the villain in my book ... unless you can paint a big yellow smiley on the fact that those customers paid a significant amount of good money for those watches are now stuck with wrist mounted brick. One thing is for sure, this has permanently cured me of any desire to buy a FitBit product.

Re:One-sided summary

[Gojira Shipi-Taro]

And I have no obligation to buy a device made by a company that doesn't support devices from companies they bought. I absolutely CAN hold them accountable with my wallet.

Lack of customer service

[Richard_at_work]

Its not as if Fitbit support their own devices very well - just look at the litany of posts on their forums and social complaining about device battery life even within the first months of use.

My wife and I bought Fitbit Charges in 2014 - two weeks later mine stopped syncing (another extremely common complaint) and had to be replaced, while my wifes lasted a month before her battery life fell to 40 minutes from a full charge and had to be replaced. My replacement lasted a month this time before it stopped syncing, and my wifes stopped syncing at 6 weeks. I returned mine for a full refund, but the wife wanted to soldier on - her third one was returned after 3 weeks due to battery life issues.

Fast forward a bit, and my wife decides to try a Fitbit Alta - worked for 4 months before it refused to sync. Oh, and while the box said "Windows Phone supported", support for WP wasnt actually included in the Fitbit app until 6 months after the product was launched (no, we don't use Windows Phone, its just another excellent example of how shit Fitbit is).

I won't touch another Fitbit for as long as they are in business.

killing off competition

[KiloByte]

integrating Vector's hardware and software know-how into its own organization

Yeah right... it's like Oracle buying MySQL or Gillette buying all other razor blade makers. All that "know-how" employees will be let go, designs put into the round file, etc. The only thing they'll keep will be patents, ie, monopoly rights. It's all about removing competition.

Re:killing off competition

[epine]

Between this and Pebble, it does kind of look like Fitbit "draining the swamp" of customer-controlled alternative platforms.

Cloud-connected means disposable

[plover]

It's not Fitbit's fault; it's the entire business model of the Cloud. Sell some cool tech thing that's cloud-dependent, run low on cash because those servers aren't paying for themselves, get bought by a bigger company. Fitbit just knows how to play the game, for now.

Who's really to blame when you buy a cloud-dependent toy, with no service contract to guarantee cloud availability for the next 25 years? What other outcome were you possibly expecting to happen? The only rational question is, "how long will I get to play with my cool toy until the company pulls the servers down?" And you should factor that limited lifespan estimate into your purchase price.