Despite Popular Kickstarter, Pebble Seeks $5 Million Loan 'To Stay Afloat'

[KentuckyHouse]

Because the "Little Guy" has serious attitude problem. Instead of being classy, the CEO mocked apple repeatedly, and if you have seen any video of him know this guy to be just plain creepy IMO.

Not ever David deserves to beat a Goliath. They need to prove their worth to their customers, and in this case they just got out classed in product and company.

Yeah, like Apple is the bastion of class. They NEVER mocked any of their competitors, right?

I think most of us are sick of the arrogance that comes out of Silicon Valley. It's nice to see these types of people put in their place to bring them back to reality.

It isn't a matter of the size, but the attitude I dislike. If apple was arrogant, I'd like to see a startup or other large company put them back in their place. Difference here, Apple can weather a blow. Pebble, if this is true, can't. Being humble can take you a long way.

IF Apple was arrogant? You're joking, right? That arrogance you're so sick of in Silicon Valley, that hubris, STARTED with Apple.

How you people can sit there and act like Apple is on some moral high ground is beyond me. Good lord...stop drinking the Kool-Aid.

 

[Rigby]

You must be looking at different pictures then I am because I think that is one ugly watch.

No more ugly than the Apple watch in my opinion. None of them compares to a nice mechanical watch though.

The fact the screen is always on draws attention to the fact it has a huge ugly bezel. The overall design just seems poor.

I have no problem with the bezel.

Personally, I don't think a watch that doesn't have an always-on display will succeed in the long run. Displays that need to be activated are just a stopgap solution. This happened before, when the first digital watches came out in the 1970s (the push-button LED models died off once LCD watches became available).

 

[bennibeef]

Pebble was always a weird product to me.

Since the first kickstarter and now the second one, I havent seen a single! Pebble in the wild. Its just the thing over at the interwebs and the youtubs.


But man 150 people on staff? What are they doing? Chillin out in the awesome start up like new office drinking coffee and talking about riding their bikes around the campus?


They probably slow themselves down with so many people. If a lot of them are developers and software engineers they should think about hiring less people.

They dont have to develop some unreal computing device here. Too much manpower at a problem just slows it down and further away from solving it

 

[elvisimprsntr]

Just look at the list of current job openings and benefits, and you can get an idea of the bureaucracy and overhead costs.

https://getpebble.com/jobs

 

[bjett92]

I know MacRumors has dramatically declined in reporting quality over the years, but this is a new low. I thought they were still above reposting speculative click-bait articles.

 

[firewood]

plus their only advantage, which i battery life, ...

2 others. I can also swim with my Pebble, and write native apps for it (not just a view screen for Watch apps that really run on my iPhone). But I'm thinking that those 3 advantages will disappear very soon. The one about native apps, perhaps at WWDC, or soon thereafter.

 

[applesith]

[/COLOR]

Yeah, like Apple is the bastion of class. They NEVER mocked any of their competitors, right?



IF Apple was arrogant? You're joking, right? That arrogance you're so sick of in Silicon Valley, that hubris, STARTED with Apple.

How you people can sit there and act like Apple is on some moral high ground is beyond me. Good lord...stop drinking the Kool-Aid.

Apple has the receipts to throw their shade. Pebble? not so much.

 

[joejoejoe]

Pebble's watches need to be $100. End of story.

Android watches are in the $200 range and have much higher compatibility with phones.

Apple is $350 and up. Premium and high compatibility with iphone.

If Pebble wants to survive, they need to be what the kindle is to the iPad.

Simple. Light. Focused. Cheap.

Focus on making the device as small and lightweight as possible, e-ink display, huge battery life, with very little but effective compatibility with your phone.

Forget charging $200.

And forget having 150 people on staff!

 

[Osxguy]

I must chime in on this. As a previous pebble user, and now a proud user of the apple watch.. The pebble was perfect for viewing notifications, viewing the time and working with up worked as an amazing pedometer. It was easy to read I could go swimming with it and the battery lasted a week. With the Apple watch I'm charging it each night, can't read it very well outside and am having problems using it while walking. Don't get me wrong I love the Apple watch but at a price tag of $399.00(1st edition get the cheap one, learned my lesson the hard way on that one.) they might want to bring the entry level price down to at least $200... I hope only the best for the pebble brand as it will keep apple on its toes in developing a product. Could you imagine if Samsung didn't keep developing? We would have the iPhone 4 with an (non existent) antinegate...

 

[kaielement]

I owned the original pebble watch. It was ok. I liked having custom watch faces. Few things It didn't do that I wished it did was make and receive phone calls, and to use the pedometer I hated having to leave the app on. The minuet I turned the app off to do anything else on the watch it stopped tracking. But no microphone was really the last straw for me. So I eventually sold it and am now waiting for my apple watch. Seemed like they were pushing batter battery over functionality. I don't mind a day or two of battery if I get the features I want just saying.

 

[APlotdevice]

I hope it stays afloat. The Pebble actually meets my needs. The Apple watch does NOT.

 

[Gasu E.]

And everyone told me how wrong I was. It's only May and they're already in trouble.

You flatter yourself. "Everyone" did not tell you how wrong you were. In fact, almost "everyone" didn't care.

----------

IF Apple was arrogant? You're joking, right? That arrogance you're so sick of in Silicon Valley, that hubris, STARTED with Apple.

How you people can sit there and act like Apple is on some moral high ground is beyond me. Good lord...stop drinking the Kool-Aid.

A conditional verb is nothing to get excited about. Now, if he had used the subjunctive, I could see your point.

 

[PJL500]

Go on Tim, do the right thing... remember Gates gave Apple $150M- when it was on it's knees.... and had few prospects...

 

[TheAppleFairy]

Go on Tim, do the right thing... remember Gates gave Apple $150M- when it was on it's knees.... and had few prospects...

Define "gave".

 

[wanderfowl]

Wearing a Pebble Steel now, with an Apple Watch on order. It's a great watch, and a good smartwatch. But sadly, the Time/Time Steel, particularly for iOS, just aren't terribly "Smart" relative to the Apple and Google offerings.

Part of this is because Apple's locked the iOS platform down for third parties, but part of it is, I suspect, the cockiness of the Pebble attitude. They may have been first, but that won't last them terribly long.

----------

Go on Tim, do the right thing... remember Gates gave Apple $150M- when it was on it's knees.... and had few prospects...

If Apple wanted to help ensure Pebble's continued existence, they'd open up APIs for third party wearables, allowing things like actionable notifications for iMessage, Mail, etc.

This would do more than anything else to stem the bleeding, and would truly allow Pebble to compete.

 

[APlotdevice]

Wearing a Pebble Steel now, with an Apple Watch on order. It's a great watch, and a good smartwatch. But sadly, the Time/Time Steel, particularly for iOS, just aren't terribly "Smart" relative to the Apple and Google offerings.

Part of this is because Apple's locked the iOS platform down for third parties, but part of it is, I suspect, the cockiness of the Pebble attitude. They may have been first, but that won't last them terribly long.

----------



If Apple wanted to help ensure Pebble's continued existence, they'd open up APIs for third party wearables, allowing things like actionable notifications for iMessage, Mail, etc.

This would do more than anything else to stem the bleeding, and would truly allow Pebble to compete.

I wish they would do that. Give us options when it comes to the hardware of the watch. But of course Apple is much more interested in pushing their own Watch, even if it doesn't fit everyone's needs.

 

[thepoynt]

Eric just responded to this TechCrunch article during a QA session the other day (http://www.drapertv.com/livestreams/eric-migicovsky, at the 22:45 mark). He says they've been profitable for the last 3 years and aren't raising any extra funds at the moment - just focusing on "selling a hell of a lot of watches"

So according to him this is a false rumor. Just thought I'd throw that into the mix...

 

[budselectjr]

Just look at the list of current job openings and benefits, and you can get an idea of the bureaucracy and overhead costs.

https://getpebble.com/jobs

"Unlimited vacation time"?

 

[a.coward]

I don't think that Apple is doing anything to "crush" Pebble. In
fact, if anything, I think Apple is helping to increase the smart watch
market through awareness and industry excitement. Even Pebble
themselves claimed that their pre-orders skyrocketed after the Apple
Watch was announced. I know a more than a couple of people
(including myself) who went out an bought an older model Pebble
after the Apple Watch announcement just to see what all the fuss
was about (yes, this was after the price drops).

As to why they are in trouble, I don't know enough to make any
educated guess. But, it's not uncommon for hardware companies
to take years to make a profit. If this wasn't taken into account
and planned for either during the original Kickstarter, or later on
with their subsequent products, then I'd be inclined to blame the
management.

 

[Carlanga]

If no bank is giving them loans or lines of credit that means the company is prob poorly managed. IMO 150 current staff members is too much considering all they had done w the first pebble already.

 

[a.coward]

"Unlimited vacation time"?

This is not uncommon (but not common either, mind you) here in Silicon Valley. Netflix does this, for example. When all is said and done, I've heard from multiple sources that on average people end up taking less vacation than they would if it was accrued.

 

[solarguy17]

No more ugly than the Apple watch in my opinion. None of them compares to a nice mechanical watch though.
I have no problem with the bezel.

Personally, I don't think a watch that doesn't have an always-on display will succeed in the long run. Displays that need to be activated are just a stopgap solution. This happened before, when the first digital watches came out in the 1970s (the push-button LED models died off once LCD watches became available).

I 100% agree. Eventually all smartwatches will have always on screens. However, the only tech that can do that with a battery that will last all day is so poor its not worth having. Pebble was able to sell that stuff because they were literally the only smartwatch for awhile so people weren't concerned.

While I don't think W is "pretty", I do think it is much better looking then the Pebble (any of them).

 

[subjonas]

I think most of us are sick of the arrogance that comes out of Silicon Valley. It's nice to see these types of people put in their place to bring them back to reality.

It isn't a matter of the size, but the attitude I dislike. If apple was arrogant, I'd like to see a startup or other large company put them back in their place. Difference here, Apple can weather a blow. Pebble, if this is true, can't. Being humble can take you a long way.

Were they excessively arrogant or did they just state their confidence? Companies can't openly admit they are going to be crushed. They have to appear strong even when they aren't. Showing weakness is bad for business, as we can see here. What bank is going to bankroll them now that this is public knowledge?

 

[mikefla]

The way this company is going it will be history in no time. Somebody please buy them out while there is still something left to scrap here.

-Mike

 

[bruceabbott]

MR should be embarrassed for regurgitating this nonsense. TC is the Faux News of the tech industry and Biggs proved it once again with his poorly written and biased article.