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Pebble's next step

blog.getpebble.com

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Re: Pebble's next step

#81

Post by dspillett »

hjmcnew wrote: post #50
peatmoss wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> check a text message on my watch while drivin Please don't do this. Traffic fatalities--particularly those involving vulnerable road users have spiked in the last couple years. There is nothing you can communicate that is worth the grave risk to others that you pose.

To be 100% clear, I totally agree with you that one shouldn't check their text messages while driving. That being said, the statistics don't support your claim that traffic fatalities have spiked. Through 2014 (the last year the IIHS published statistics) fatalities had either leveled off or continued their historical decline. http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/general-statistics/fatalit...

Statistics are like bikinis: they show a lot but what they can hide is significant too.

Fatalities overall have fallen and continue to fall, largely due to increased use of seatbelts, other safety features in cars improving and being more commonly available. Also in many areas the overcrowding of roads is making fatalities drop: if you can't get up to any sort of speed then and collisions you experience will be less likely to be fatal!

But accidents due to being distracted by technology (and therefor the number of fatalities as a proportion of that) are, according to a number of studies, on the increase.

Re: Pebble's next step

#82

Post by sleepychu »

victorvation wrote: post #70
captainmuon wrote: post #64

I'm quite angry. This sucks so bad. I "ordered" a Time 2 via Kickstarter. I'm glad they are refunding me, but that makes me think... WTF, did they not produce any Time 2's? Or are they all going to the landfill? How long have they been knowing that they are going to be insolvent? This doesn't happen overnight! Was the last Kickstarter a gamble? Why does everybody have to aim for total market dominance to be successfu…

> Was the last Kickstarter a gamble? _All_ Kickstarters are gambles. Their messaging[1] is pretty clear in the fact that you aren't buying a product, you're contributing money with the hope that the maker will deliver on their promises. [1] https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-store

I think your parent means a gamble on the part of Pebble.

Re: Pebble's next step

#83

Post by twistedpair »

alonsonic wrote: post #47

I can't believe this, just got a Pebble 2 a week ago and now they are literally saying it may not work in the future. If we rely on their cloud services for activity tracking and app downloads then it will be useless if FitBit doesn't maintain the platform. I have to say I'm really disappointed and this is a huge blow to people that invest in startups offering hardware. If the company fails forget about the smart stu…

e.g. a pledge to open source the code base if the company folds?

Re: Pebble's next step

#84

Post by captainmuon »

victorvation wrote: post #70
captainmuon wrote: post #64

I'm quite angry. This sucks so bad. I "ordered" a Time 2 via Kickstarter. I'm glad they are refunding me, but that makes me think... WTF, did they not produce any Time 2's? Or are they all going to the landfill? How long have they been knowing that they are going to be insolvent? This doesn't happen overnight! Was the last Kickstarter a gamble? Why does everybody have to aim for total market dominance to be successfu…

> Was the last Kickstarter a gamble? _All_ Kickstarters are gambles. Their messaging[1] is pretty clear in the fact that you aren't buying a product, you're contributing money with the hope that the maker will deliver on their promises. [1] https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-store

Right, but I meant a gamble on their side, not the buyers'. Like when MtGox lost their bitcoins and ran as a fractional reserve trying to cover what happened. Or an actual addicted gambler trying to cut their losses by playing more. I wonder when they learned they were going out of business, and if the last Kickstarter was just a Hail Mary...

Re: Pebble's next step

#85

Post by lettergram »

TarpitCarnivore wrote: post #53
dijit wrote: post #3

I'd like to know how this happened really. Pebbles were pretty decent and their successful campaigns definitely contributed to the rise of smart watches. But after having two hugely successful crowdfunding campaigns, how did they fail?

> But after having two hugely successful crowdfunding campaigns, how did they fail? One could argue having to go continuously go back to that well meant they never gained the market traction they were hoping for.

I don't know, that may be true, but I saw multiple people walk into target and ask for Pebble's. I was actually astonished when I first saw it, but I was like - "alright, pebble is going to be okay".

This was like six months ago, but it was in SF.

Re: Pebble's next step

#86

Post by tokenizerrr »

fudgy73 wrote: post #77

I don't usually get upset about this stuff, business is business, but with my outstanding time 2 and core orders, I am definitely feeling bamboozled. I always thought of pebbles fighting fitbits, the watch for 'us' vs the trackers for everyone. The open platform vs the locked in, the device that got just what you wanted done vs the not-really-a-watch. It seemed like with pebble health and their relationship with Stan…

I'm not a lawperson, but can companies really just terminate a warranty like that?

Re: Pebble's next step

#87

Post by [deleted] »

captainmuon wrote: post #84
victorvation wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Was the last Kickstarter a gamble? _All_ Kickstarters are gambles. Their messaging[1] is pretty clear in the fact that you aren't buying a product, you're contributing money with the hope that the maker will deliver on their promises. [1] https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/kickstarter-is-not-a-store

Right, but I meant a gamble on their side, not the buyers'. Like when MtGox lost their bitcoins and ran as a fractional reserve trying to cover what happened. Or an actual addicted gambler trying to cut their losses by playing more. I wonder when they learned they were going out of business, and if the last Kickstarter was just a Hail Mary...

[deleted]

Re: Pebble's next step

#88

Post by lettergram »

mabbo wrote: post #27
imaginenore wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think they failed? Didn't FitBit just buy them?

What is success? The product they named their company after is never going to be manufactured again. People who paid them for that product but haven't received it yet never will. Their company is dead. Or do you mean the fact that their founders and owners probably got some cash back for selling the whole thing? Well, how much do you get back for an acquihire? Fitbit didn't buy them for their tech, or they'd still be…

They may have bought them for patents though. E-ink display on a watch could be pretty important for fitbit going forward.

Re: Pebble's next step

#89

Post by IgorPartola »

Would have been better if they had open sourced the OS and the server code. And the designs for that matter. Obviously the IP is worth quite a bit, but since it doesn't look like FitBit will be producing similar hardware, it sucks to essentially lose these designs and it sucks that at any point FitBit can just shutter the services that make the current watches work.

Also, the Core was going to be awesome. Too bad it didn't happen.

Re: Pebble's next step

#90

Post by gerryk »

rtpg wrote: post #33
sandis wrote: post #10

> Warranty support is no longer available for Pebble watches. That's not very nice.

Also not super legal, probably. I'm sure if you have a problem, you could argue that Fitbit needs to handle it.

You could argue it certainly, but I suspect it might cost a bit, and you would end up at the bottom of a long list of creditors.
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