Apple Restricting New Pebble Smartwatches From 'Being Awesome' With iPhone

[ProbablyDylan]

I was actually coming over to post this article in a different subforum, I'm glad the MR team was already dialed in to Eric's post.

It's utter BS that Apple goes so far out of their way to ensure only they are allowed to make good accessories for their products. I'm honestly surprised that Apple even supports 3rd party gaming controllers, but that's probably only because they don't make their own.

 

[LordArchie]

I don't knock Pebble. I had one back in the early 2010s.

I did as well.. but today it's not much more than a science project.

 

[Admiral Fart]

It’s all good, when this inevitably fails (because just look at it), he can blame mean old Apple instead of taking responsibility for releasing a product no one wants and no one cares about.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

It’s all good, when this inevitably fails (because just look at it), he can blame mean old Apple instead of taking responsibility for releasing a product no one wants and no one cares about.

I don't know, there are a cohort of people who miss Pebble and I've heard people say that they would go back in a heartbeat. I never used one, personally, and only ever saw one while riding in an airport shuttle at SEATAC.

No reason to get his over a Garmin, though. A smartwatch without GPS is borderline useless.

 

[@Brett]

Sounds like he concerned with his bottom line and not the customer. Apple is not required to make it easy for someone’s else’s hardware to work with theirs.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Sounds like he concerned with his bottom line and not the customer. Apple is not required to make it easy for someone’s else’s hardware to work with theirs.

Not required, but they should.

Ecosystem lock-in sucks, from any company.

 

[9081094]

As long as Apple keeps the competitors off, they can still keep the “premium” on Apple Watches.

Isn’t this monopolistic behavior?

 

[God of Biscuits]

Sorry pal, but why would Apple make it easy for you, a third-party smartwatch company, to "replicate the functions of the Apple Watch"?

Yeah, why would apple allow 3rd parties things like push notifications or blue tooth APIS or access to the NFC hardware? WHY?

 

[Veinticinco]

Yeah, why would apple allow 3rd parties things like push notifications or blue tooth APIS or access to the NFC hardware? WHY?

Not even remotely the same thing.

 

[God of Biscuits]

Why wouldn't the Pebble be able to access the internet via bluetooth or wifi? or doesn't it have either of those things? Granted, it requires an iPhone to have Personal Hotspot on, but that's one way of accessing internet without the app running.

 

[Kal Madda]

Wow, so just blame your laziness on Apple, okay, interesting. 😂 I have an Amazfit watch that has an app distribution system for the watch within its iOS app. You obviously could offer an app ecosystem from the iOS app for Pebble as well, it’s just that he doesn’t apparently want to. Some of the other alleged limitations can be worked with as well. The App Store even allows apps to distribute mini-apps. Just more complaining about doing basic things many other developers do on Apple’s ecosystem…

 

[0049190]

Then I take it you don't use any third party apps on your iPhones? Having an ability for notifications to work is no different to a third party app using notifications on an iPhone.

Agreed. The iPhone’s success was built on the fact that it had access to thousands of third party apps. Without those apps the iPhone would have failed just like the Microsoft Windows Phone did. It was a decent phone but lacked the apps.

 

[Mousse]

"He says that Apple makes it "nearly impossible for 3rd party wearable developers" to create an experience that mirrors the Apple Watch experience"

And that is what the EU competition commission should really be looking at. Sorry but I have an Apple Watch and it is nice, however it is pretty much the ONLY smart watch that works fully with an iPhone,

Yep. It's almost as if Apple uses hidden/restricted API to get their watch to work on Apple's ecosystem. Imagine doing an obstacle course and only the home team are given the tools to bypass all the obstructions. Talk about your unfair advantage.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I'm patiently waiting for a Pebble Time Round. I'll wait. Maybe by then, Apple will have had their APIs forced open by the courts.

 

[Kal Madda]

Then I take it you don't use any third party apps on your iPhones? Having an ability for notifications to work is no different to a third party app using notifications on an iPhone.

Notifications can work on other watches. Garmin watches support app notifications, Amazfit watches support it, many third party watches with an iPhone app support iPhone notifications…

 

[Kal Madda]

Why wouldn't the Pebble be able to access the internet via bluetooth or wifi? or doesn't it have either of those things? Granted, it requires an iPhone to have Personal Hotspot on, but that's one way of accessing internet without the app running.

Yeah, the Apple Watch doesn’t even use the iPhone’s browser, it has its own separate version of Safari as a viewer for viewing web links and such. Pebble could very easily incorporate a similar such web viewer in their OS if they wanted to, Apple isn’t making them not do that…

 

[Mousse]

You can argue that apple makes it hard for phone hardware makers since ios will only work on apple hardware.

Hardware makers can make a phone that runs iOS. There's just the little problem of it being illegal for their phones to run iOS without licensing it from Apple. The only way a 3rd Party can interact with iOS is through API. Apple has some that only they get to use for an unfair advantage.

I dont buy the argument that apple, who doesnt even have dominate eu marketshare, has to make everything open.

Aye. Why should Apple open the door to competition, right? They can keep selling their bland devices with incremental updates year after year.

 

[Spock]

Anyone else notice that Pebble doesn't abbreviate their operating system? Probably because it's a P.O.S.!

Apple has absolutely nothing to gain from supporting products like this that compete with Apple's own product. Let 'em sink or swim on their own merits, hardware and software.

It is not about Apple supporting Pebble, Apple does not allow certain features like message responses on other smart watch. The other manufactures can't make a fully functional Apple Watch alternative and that is not fair. It would be the same if Apple said that scrolling was an exclusive Apple Mouse feature.

 

[the future]

That's like asking Apple to built it's own car if every car vendor decides to block car play

The difference is that the car makers would only hurt themselves because their customers want CarPlay. These Pebble toys wouldn‘t make a dent in the modern smart watch market even if they got all the APIs they could ever think of.

Ecosystem lock-in sucks, from any company.

The success and customer satisfaction of Apple‘s „walled garden“ would suggest that most users disagree with you. Your „lock-in“ is their „it just works“.

Why should Apple open the door to competition, right? They can keep selling their bland devices with incremental updates year after year.

But you have an „open“ smart phone platform which has even dominant market share world-wide. So where is the thriving, non-„bland“ smart watch market on/for Android?

 

[MilaM]

I'm not particularily interested in this product. But I do think Apple needs to be more open to hardware manufacturers who seek better integration with iOS. Not doing so will harm the ecosystem and make Apple products less attractive in the long run.

 

[Mousse]

But you have an „open“ smart phone platform which has even dominant market share world-wide. So where is the thriving, non-„bland“ smart watch market on/for Android?

Every smartwatch I've seen is bland.😑😓😓

The only smartwatch that would move the needle for me would have a senile AI on it.

 

[John_Blackthorne]

This product had its time and it was great for its time.

The world has moved on.

"Migicovsky calls on "Pebble-curious" ‌iPhone‌ users to complain loudly to Apple or switch to Android, while also asking elected representatives in the U.S. to support legislation that would require Apple to make changes to its rules."

This is known as "desperation."

 

[John_Blackthorne]

Every smartwatch I've seen is bland.😑😓😓

The only smartwatch that would move the needle for me would have a senile AI on it.

Man, the quality of BBC footage is super low.

 

[I7guy]

They don't own their products, they own the software. I own the Phone, Watch and MacBook.

Decisions like this is why I'm becoming anti-ecosystem, as a concept, from any company. I don't subscribe to any services from Apple, and my next watch will likely be a Garmin.

Apple isn’t the only company with a closed ecosystem. I do not care whether it’s open or closed provided what I buy works. What I do care about is over regulation.

 

[frenchcamp49er]

No they can market towards android users