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Pebble's next step

blog.getpebble.com

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Re: Pebble's next step

#341

Post by LeanderK »

this blog post is absurd. They are shutting down, not manufacturing/selling stuffy anymore. It's over, the bubble popped, icarus flew too high and crashed.

And yet everybody having fun with their pebbles on the pictures. Also featured: the energetic team, the diverse ecosystem with lots of developers. This is absurd. The only thing missing is the "our incredible journey"-phrase.

The whole blog-post if marketing BS, even the headline is a lie. "Pebble's next step", there is no next step, it's over for pebble! Some might work for fitbit in the future, but pebble is dead. They don't explain why and how, they are just glorifying their past and don't admit any mistakes.

Re: Pebble's next step

#342

Post by reneherse »

scblock wrote: post #329

Considering that Pebble is stopping product development, cancelling orders, ending warranties, ending support, and essentially completely shutting down I find the positive tone of this post and the Kickstarter update post to be nearly unbelievable. I know we see plenty of "our incredible journey" posts filled with optimism, but euphemistic language and dozens of photos of watches and happy people and more watches is…

Indeed, the tone, headline, and imagery are bizarrely incongruous to the gravity of the message. I have to assume that internally they're just trying to make sense of a difficult situation and PR is not one of their strengths. One recalls that the first stage of grief is denial...

Re: Pebble's next step

#343

Post by saltycraig »

darklajid wrote: post #331
tw04 wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like I'm starting to sound like a fanboy - but it's because I've had other smart watches and it's just so much better . Why not consider garmin? Not sure if their SDK is going to hit the mark as I'm guessing you want complete control and it's definitely not that, but they have everything else you've asked for. https://developer.garmin.com/connect-iq/sdk/

Well, they're three times the price. That's a bit hard to swallow, honestly. A Pebble is a nice gadget. The Garmin (looking at garmin.com, clicking the first thing that looks like a watch) is close to a month of rent. I believe you when you state that you're satisfied. On the other hand, I really don't feel that this is in the Pebble replacement league.

> Well, they're three times the price. That's a bit hard to swallow, honestly.

Exactly, people keep bringing up Garmin as a replacement but I don't think it is. I was into Pebble for the open C API and price, which did everything I wanted. The Pebble 2 was at the limit of what I would ever pay for a smartwatch, Garmin I just won't consider as I only want a few features.

I'm sad that it is almost certain that the Pebble/fitbit blend that we will see in the future will be completely closed/proprietary which definitely doesn't help me "make awesome happen".

Re: Pebble's next step

#345

Post by abetusk »

enraged_camel wrote: post #309
chrisper wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shenzhen is booming because of Open Source hardware. It's amazing. They realized that IP is garbage and only holds back everyone.

Interesting. Where can I read more about this?

A non-comprehensive, short list of what I could find from a couple of minutes of Googling around:

[1] https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=4751

[2] https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=4297

[3] http://qz.com/771727/chinas-factories-in-shenzhen-can-copy-p...

Re: Pebble's next step

#346

Post by brlewis »

paulftw wrote: post #138
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…

They genuinely believed they were going to change the world, drank too much of their own kool-aid and eventually ran out of money. Pretty sure they feel terrible right now and I don't think they slept well for the past 6 months. Could someone reasonable see this coming before KS? Most likely yes. Would they get this far without taking big risks? Most likely no. You feel angry you didn't get your pebbles, I feel angry…

Fitbit is not a struggling wearables manufacturer. It is solidly profitable.

Re: Pebble's next step

#348

Post by nepfvkej »

mike-cardwell wrote: post #198

Somebody pointed this out to me the other day: https://github.com/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge I've not looked into it yet, but it is described as: "A free and cloudless replacement for your gadget vendors' closed source Android applications. Pebble and Mi Band supported." The feature list seems substantial. So hopefully we'll be able to continue to use our pebbles for some time.

I don't know whether to applaud or criticize those who create open source software on unstable proprietary platforms, but if nothing else it shows what potential good greater openness would serve users.

Re: Pebble's next step

#349

Post by billforsternz »

33W wrote: post #292
Fnoord wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're missing my point. "OEM manufacturer" would mean "original equipment manufacturer manufacturer".

You're missing the point as well. ATM Machine would mean Automatic Teller Machine Machine.

Not "as well" because only Fnoord was missing the point.

Re: Pebble's next step

#350

Post by intopieces »

IgorPartola wrote: post #89

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…

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

Yes, it was, and they even had Alexa integration planned. It made it a really interesting product, something that not even Apple or Google had. A little hackable 3G box with voice assistant. Really bummed.

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