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Pebble's next step

blog.getpebble.com

141–150 of 457 posts

Re: Pebble's next step

#141
The iFixit was very interesting. It has a freakin FPGA?? A comment said it was there to drive the e-ink display, while the MCU slept. Any confirmation on that? Also, what the heck was the smart strap supposed to be?

This is sad because I was just about to get a Pebble (had tried beefier watches but felt battery life was too limited).

Re: Pebble's next step

#142
post #125

This is the most orderly shutdown of a hardware+services company I've seen. Congrats to Team Pebble for that. It has to suck to end this way after 8 years. :( I hope someone builds a product like Pebble Core; I'm not sure how generally viable that is, but I'd love to have it myself.

> This is the most orderly shutdown of a hardware+services company I've seen. Congrats to Team Pebble for that.

Oh, then you wasn't aware of the shitstorm that was happening on Reddit, Pebble forums and Kickstarter. The company basically went silent a month or so ago. Then, after the news of the acquisition broke early, they slowly progressed from total silence to completely unprofessional behaviour (i.e. posting stupid shit and not answering anything).

I was - still am - a great fan of Pebble, so this whole affair really hurts me. :(.

Re: Pebble's next step

#143

You know, Pebble has garnered one of the best group of loyal customers I know of: well-off techies. Had they came to the community and said, "hey we are losing sales and we need everyone to pitch in $10 / year for software support (maybe a web interface for fitness or something) I guarantee a few hundred thousand people would have done it. Had they shared a coupon with the community (i.e. email add campaign, or add o…

It seems very much like poor management. The "go big, or go home" culture of the valley. Where businesses think if they can't be a billion dollar unicorn, then they might as well die. It makes companies push too hard for explosive growth instead of building a sustainable business.

Re: Pebble's next step

#144
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 think it was simply a kind of tradition. It wouldn't be Pebble without a Kickstarter for each new watch. Also I suppose this way they got better deal on preorders that they could do elsewhere, coupled with lots of free marketing.

Re: Pebble's next step

#145
post #29

I am so sad about this. I had told myself that at least I'd get a Time 2 and a Core, and stave myself off before the sadness hits again that Pebble is gone. Pebble's products were an excellent example of lateral technology. No need for high DPI on your watch, because they made something that looks good with few pixels. Making battery life a priority in a world of WiFi-enabled pressure cookers. Even when the battery r…

> but I would love to see an open design...

Well - there's always this:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-smart-watch/

> ...with similar specs

Hmm - I doubt they compare, but then again, one is open-source and nearly infinitely customizable (depending on your budget, skills, and needs) - and one, well - doesn't exist any longer.

Re: Pebble's next step

#146

I have a Pebble 2. I charged it last night. I have the Pebble Android app and I can't seem to get the two connected today. Is that because of this? Is there something on the backend that's required for notifications/sending already downloaded stuff from the app? I figured it did it all via the app on the client side, except the store. If I can't even connect anymore, that's pretty screwed up, and I'm angry. If it jus…

Shouldn't be. Service is staying uninterrupted for the immediate future.

Re: Pebble's next step

#147

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…

No need to be angry. It's a start-up. They all wanted to succeed, but life isn't always fair.

> They all wanted to succeed, but life isn't always fair.

So did we.

Edit: removed judgemental statement.

Re: Pebble's next step

#148
If FitBit wants current Pebble users to be their future customers, they should definitely consider not making current Pebble devices useless.

I understand this is not a trivial task, but it looks like FitBit mostly acquired Pebble's software engineers. So it would nice to see a new FitBit flavored OS update for Pebbles. The hardware is there, it just needs the software support. Pebble hardware with FitBit health/fitness services would a be great combo.

Re: Pebble's next step

#149

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…

It would seem that fitbit would want to retain pebble customers. If they discontinue cloud support for pebble that won't be a good thing

Re: Pebble's next step

#150

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...

They probably thought a big KS would convince investors to give them couple hundred million.

What they should have done is cut costs and develop 10x fewer features, let the community grow slowly but organically and wait out the bad times.

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