Pebble has announced that the company will shut down and cease the production of its smartwatches. Many of the developers will join Fitbit, and Fitbit has acquired Pebble's "technology, software, and other intellectual property".
Pebble previously rejected offers of $740 million and later $70 million for the company. Fitbit is paying around $40 million for parts of Pebble without assuming its debts (which are around the same amount).
"A Look Back at Pebble's Rise and Fall" at PC Magazine.
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Pebble smartwatches could be kept alive by an unofficial developer group called Rebble
Pebble's online services will officially die at the end of this month, but some could live on through Rebble, an unofficial group of Pebble users who are trying to keep their watches alive.
Rebble initially popped up after Pebble said in 2016 that it would cease operations and be acquired by Fitbit. Now that Fitbit is weeks away from shutting down Pebble's remaining services, Rebble is promoting an unofficial replacement system that's meant to keep the majority of Pebble's internet-connected functions alive. Former Pebble employee Katharine Berry is spearheading the effort, and it's received an endorsement from Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky.
Also at Engadget.
Previously: Pebble Dead, Assets Sold to Fitbit
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 08 2016, @12:40AM
You can't "acquire" software assets, software is not property, all software is free software, and all free software is on the github, because linux.
Blessed be the torvalds.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday December 08 2016, @12:42AM
"Pebble previously rejected offers of $740 million and later $70 million for the company. Fitbit is paying around $40 million "
D'oh!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 08 2016, @12:47AM
Dick Tracy wrist watches are a dumb idea after all, pocket watches are everywhere again, and we call them phones.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday December 08 2016, @12:50AM
Smartwatches need to become wearable tricorders to regain relevancy. That's why Fitbit is in the lead and their smartwatches sold 10 years from now will come with a cancer-curing feature.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 08 2016, @12:55AM
Not futuristic enough. Need to combine tricorder, communicator, and phaser into one taserphone.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 08 2016, @12:59AM
And market exclusively to women because men will be irrelevant in the future economy.
http://www.womenonguard.com/stun-guns/cell-phone-stun-guns [womenonguard.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 08 2016, @01:30AM
I really do wonder what it's like, up there, in your head. I've seen fucked up people, but you... are summink else...
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday December 08 2016, @01:50AM
Love that, lol.
I can just see it: woman forgets what she's doing, goes to make a phone call and tazers herself. Man, that would be an EPIC FAIL!!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday December 08 2016, @01:52AM
Just had a thought: that would be like a man carrying a joke impotence causing condom to give as a joke gift to a friend and then forgetting and putting it on just before having sex with a gorgeous woman.
EPIC FAIL 2.O!!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday December 08 2016, @01:45AM
Smart watches have two killer features:
- Old people who don't want to wear an emergency call button around their neck (also need a speaker to tell the time, or giant numbers).
- Young people who get so plastered they need a button to call an Uber/Lyft home automatically, while remaining unable to drunk-text.
I'll take 3% royalties.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 08 2016, @08:14AM
I use my smartwatch as a silent ring indicator. My phone neither rings nor vibrates. My watch vibrates instead. I'm never out of bluetooth range of my phone (or at least not out of bluetooth and still close enough to hear it ring). Its also a theft/loss alert because if my phone does go out of range, my watch lets me know that too, although it isn't instantaneous.
(Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Thursday December 08 2016, @12:48AM
Instead of a golden parachute, somebody's getting a tweed parachute.
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(Score: 2) by RedGreen on Thursday December 08 2016, @12:48AM
But they were going to be gilzillionaires once the IPO hit, as Steve Miller sung Oh, Oh, Take the money and run...
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 08 2016, @11:55PM
Yahoo level sudgery.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Absolutely.Geek on Thursday December 08 2016, @02:29AM
As someone who has both the original pebble and now a pebble time; I am a little disappointed.
The pebble had the some features that no other smartwatch had/has; battery life. I used to get 7 - 8 days out of my old pebble and now 6 - 8 days out of my pebble time. The display is sunlight readable as well as being on all the time.
I use my pebble primarily as a watch; then as a second screen for my phone. It is great to be able to see who is calling when I'm busy or in a loud environment; I can make a decision to interrupt what I am doing to answer the phone or not. When the phone beeps a quick glance at my wrist lets me know if it is important or can be ignored until I next pull my phone out.
Maybe if they jumped on the health tracker bandwagon earlier things would have been different.
Don't trust the police or the government - Shihad: My mind's sedate.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday December 08 2016, @02:36AM
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Absolutely.Geek on Thursday December 08 2016, @03:02AM
Yea I did read that; the part that sucks is there will be no new pebbles in the future. I assume that the services wont be kept running for that long either; a year maybe two but beyond that I don't hold out much hope.
No new apps or further dev on the watch OS.
I was kind of looking forward to a pebble "basic" (in 2 - 3 years) essentially the functionality of the original pebble but with a 1 month battery. The pebble time is nice but it doesn't give me that much more then the original did. Really the differences are mainly software based.
Don't trust the police or the government - Shihad: My mind's sedate.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday December 08 2016, @03:27AM
That right there probably has something to do with why they haven't really taken off. Theres a few things I can think of doing with them, but the price isn't worth it. It would be nice to see who's calling me, what my next appointment is and some things like that on a watch, but the cost associated with it isn't worth it.
If I'm going to spend that kind of money on something that I wear on my wrist, I'd rather get a nice watch. I love my Seiko and I'll have that on my wrist for years to come for less than what most of these wearables.
(Score: 2) by rob_on_earth on Thursday December 08 2016, @11:01AM
That's what I can here to say, but I will add that I also I love the fact it (pebble time) is water proof.
Hopefully there will be enough techie users that a complete alternative app and services get built.
Like you say, love it first as a watch and second as a phone notification device.
I remain hopeful.
(Score: 2) by rob_on_earth on Friday December 09 2016, @08:02AM
and an alternative app appears
https://github.com/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge [github.com]
and this one supports other wearables.
From what I can see the only thing it does not support is the voice replies.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday December 08 2016, @04:48PM
But even that bandwagon is a temporary fad, IMHO. That would only have prolonged their life a few more years.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Funny) by Some call me Tim on Thursday December 08 2016, @03:33AM
Bam-Bam is going to be devastated.
Ba-dum-tish!
Questioning science is how you do science!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 08 2016, @05:55PM
Pebble: Fossil Wrist PDA Mk.2 [wikipedia.org]
iWatch: Fossil Mk. 3.