I think you’re right. Hopefully Amazon’s normal top-notch customer service and their ‘no quibble’ returns will salvage this.
Thanks.
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Which android wear watch did you go with?
I started with the Moto 360 and then went to the Huawei. IMO it’s the best Android watch by far (and IMO better than the Apple Watch, but you have to match your phone), but it’s pricey. Asus Zenwatch 2 is a great way to go on a budget, The 2015 Moto 360 is certainly a good watch if you can stand the ‘flat tire’ at the bottom and you can get it reasonably now. LG Watch Urbane looks very nice if you don’t mind how hueg it is. And Samsung Gear S2 is very nice if you can stand being tied into something very proprietary again (I couldn’t).
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definitely don’t want to go big - my wrists are on the smaller side. Was leaning toward 360… need to do some more research… have some time before my Pebble Steel needs to be replaced, but it doesn’t sound like there will be many new Android Wear devices coming out anytime soon.
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That’s one sad benefit of the smartwatch fad fizzling - anything you buy won’t go obsolete soon.
This is why I like Timex. Takes a licking, keeps on ticking.
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As I see it, Pebble’s biggest problem was that relying on repeated Kickstarters to fund itself basically camouflaged the fact that there just weren’t enough interested people outside the Kickstarters to keep their business afloat. I realize that BoingBoing will take any excuse it possibly can to make anything and everything into a screed about the evils of DRM, but I can’t really see that DRM has much to do with the Pebble in any case.
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It took me almost a month to buy my pebble because the shops kept selling all their stock a day after it came in. I wonder if pebble’s problem was in production. They couldn’t make enough watches to turn a profit.
Here’s the section headings from the email they sent to all their customers yesterday:
- Fitbit has agreed to acquire key Pebble assets.
- Pebble is ceasing all hardware operations.
- Making Awesome Happen will live on at Fitbit.
Two of these are purely informational, one of these is pure corporate bullshit that makes it look like they don’t give a fuck about anyone except themselves, can you tell which?
I got a Pebble2 last month to replace my OG Pebble which I really liked, trouble is, the P2 is a few firmware updates away from being great (disconnects from Bluetooth about twice a day, pulse tracker doesn’t notice when you’re not wearing the watch etc). I don’t hold out any hope of ever getting those firmware updates any more, so I might end up moving back to my original Pebble.
The performance of the watch at all the shops in only one area is just a little anecdotal. Maybe you lived in an area with a lot of geeks.
Perhaps more telling is the fact that they kept returning to the Kickstarter well to fund each subsequent watch. If they were really selling that well, they should have been able to fund subsequent watches from the normal business proceeds of the preceding ones, rather than continuing to crowdfund each one. The thing about a Kickstarter is that it brings in a lot of business all at once…but at the cost of selling those same people something from a store down the line. And, as noted, it can make it look like more people want your hardware than actually do.
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Microsoft Zune?
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Yeah… that was my birthday present down the drain… 
I think I read that they will reimburse all non-delivered kickstarter orders? Yeah, from the mail they sendt:
- Kickstarter backers will get refunds for any unfulfilled rewards by March 2017
But still, the magical, unicorn filled, wonderland business language in the mail had me dry heaving before the end. I loved the first Pebble Steel and I don’t think I can afford anything reasonably similarly priced and with similar performance and appearance (Time 2). In stores here the Moto 360 or The Huawei are more than double the price than the kick-starter Time 2 price… 
If there is no interest, then how did they sell the whole IP at once? This is the sort of thing that puzzles me about where “capital” supposedly lies. The value of the thing is how it works and how I would use it - not which company offered it. Why would the Pebble tech have more value to the average person from Fitbit than from Pebble?
No interest from the public in existing products doesn’t mean the technology has no potential uses to another company. Fitbit has gone from a neat new cool toy to being eclipsed by the current generation of smartwatches that have fitness functions built in. If they want to stay in business themselves, they need to build a full-fledged smartwatch, too. And as it happens, there’s a smartwatch company in the process of failing that could give them just what they need to do that.
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That’s doesn’t explain why if the public aren’t interested in this as a product from Pebble, they might be interested in the same thing offered by Fitbit. If people are interested in the technology, I don’t understand why they would care what name is attached to it.
That’s something you’d just have to ask the Fitbit people about. The two things we know for sure are that Pebble died, and Fitbit swooped in to pick over the carcass. There must have been good reasons for both things happening!
They really should have sold a year ago, though.
Apparently the $40M isn’t going to be making anyone rich…the sale price doesn’t even cover Pebble’s debt and other liabilities.
Return it.
I had a few warranty issues with my Pebble before, as much as I like them I wouldn’t risk it.
You would however be protected by any extended warranty stuff if you purchased with a credit card, but that would likely just become a refund if it dies.
I would wait a year and see what FitBit comes out with.
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I went with the fitbit Alta. I kind of liked the Asus Zenwatch 2, but it
felt too much like second best to the watch I really wanted. So, I’m going
with something not as fun, but with the really essential functions.
Maybe in a year there will be something that makes me as excited as the
Pebble did, but if not I’ll have most of what I wanted. I’m just bummed
that after like 2 years of wanting this, it dies literally a day after we
buy one. Amazon’s already issued my refund.
