Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

theluggage

macrumors 604
Jul 29, 2011
7,510
7,415
I didn't think they had a business model that was sustainable.

Kickstarter is a great idea for for putting a toe in a new market or product category, but if you're still relying on it to fund your 2nd/3rd generation products then you might have to accept that you don't have a viable product.

I looked at Pebbles a couple of times - the always-on display and week-long battery life should have been end-of-argument features for a smartwatch, but they always looked a bit cheap and plasticky, and by the time they were actually available to buy, there always seemed to be a better version 'coming soon' (the good old "Osbourne Effect"). They may have been a lot cheaper than other smartwatches but they still needed to look better than a $30 dumbwatch.

Its looking like there's a modest market for smartwatches, but the killer app is fitness tracking, and dedicated trackers like the fitbit do it better, more affordably and in a smaller package that doesn't add 0.5s to your lap time.

Apples comments about "sell through rates" are information-free and neither prove or disprove anything - apart from smelling of freshly-picked cherries.

being popular doesn't necessarily (and quite often is the complete opposite) mean being good.

Unfortunately, electronic products, particularly miniature ones with lots of custom parts, rely on large quantities to be profitable and affordable.

Those are some stone cold rock references.

The avalanche has already started - it is too late for the pebbles to vote - Kosh, Babylon 5.
 

Glassed Silver

macrumors 68020
Mar 10, 2007
2,096
2,567
Kassel, Germany
Smart. I have a bunch of outdoor security cameras that feed video through the cloud. The one day I had an issue and needed to watch my house from 200 miles away, their **** was down. No access to live video, and nothing was recorded either. It was Halloween night and everyone was watching kiddies doing trick or treat so they got overloaded and their only response was "Whoops, our servers got spooked, lol"
Are you paying an ongoing subscription fee for the service?

Maybe one of your payments gets spooked sometime......

Glassed Silver:ios
 

rusty2192

macrumors 6502a
Oct 15, 2008
997
81
Kentucky
RIP Pebble. I love my original Pebble. It has sold me on smart watches. The best things about the pebble are the 5 day battery life, cheap, and indestructible. The plastic screen on the original one is a little too soft so a screen protector is a must. I regularly put this thing where no watch has any business, like deep into a tight engine bay of a car. If I had an Apple Watch I'd constantly be afraid of damaging it.
 

gixxerfool

macrumors 65816
Jun 7, 2008
1,087
786
RIP Pebble. I love my original Pebble. It has sold me on smart watches. The best things about the pebble are the 5 day battery life, cheap, and indestructible. The plastic screen on the original one is a little too soft so a screen protector is a must. I regularly put this thing where no watch has any business, like deep into a tight engine bay of a car. If I had an Apple Watch I'd constantly be afraid of damaging it.
This is the only thing keeping from purchasing an Apple Watch. Maybe when I get a different career.
 

Thunderhawks

Suspended
Feb 17, 2009
4,057
2,118
Another beautiful example of why I don't trust "the cloud" for anything permanent and opt to avoid it as much as I can.

Not possible with every service or product, but I'm certainly trying not to let myself get screwed too much.

To think some folks in the gaming industry think that gamesaves, vast amounts of computing for a given game and other things should be (partially) relegated to the cloud scares me and that's just one of many examples.

Glassed Silver:ios

Almost on par with "lifetime" memberships of any kind!
 

nwcs

macrumors 68030
Sep 21, 2009
2,722
5,262
Tennessee
As often happens in these deals it means the employees get the short end of the stick, especially those who had stock. What it really means is that Pebble must have been barely profitable, or not at all, and they were likely holding on by the skin of their teeth. I almost bought a Pebble last year as I liked the concept but the screen just wasn't good enough. Hope the Pebble people come out ahead in the end.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dysamoria

brownpaw

macrumors regular
Apr 18, 2010
185
153
This is really sad. The Pebble was no Apple Watch but adequately served a different market segment, and probably acted as a gateway to more expensive wearables.

There was no way I would pay for an Apple Watch as my first wearable, not sure if I would even like it. But I gladly paid $65 for a refurb Pebble Time to dip my feet into wearables. It's a great watch for what it is and what it does.
 

jlc1978

macrumors 603
Aug 14, 2009
5,495
4,280
As often happens in these deals it means the employees get the short end of the stick, especially those who had stock.

Always. I still have the unwashed $1 check buying back my stock from a start I worked for; fortunately they paid top dollar in wages and benefits so it wasn't as bad of a deal, the stock was always a "lottery win if it paid out" for me.

I'm curious how the $40 mill gets spent. I'd guess all the secured creditors get first crack, after any wages and taxes due are paid out; then everyone else gets to fight over what remains. Since Kickstarter funders are unsecured creditors and not purchasers awaiting orders it will be interesting to see if they actually get refunds. If the funds weren't yet sent to Pebble that would probably be the best shot at a full refund.

What it really means is that Pebble must have been barely profitable, or not at all, and they were likely holding on by the skin of their teeth.

When you build an inexpensive electronic item but never seem to get traction through retail it is a bad sign for your company; unless you only produce one offs and don't intend to go into mass production with the items. A bluetooth speaker, charging brick, quartz watch, etc. all can work since once your manufacturing run is done and the product shipped your costs go down significantly as there is little ongoing work beyond warranty service; in many ways it's a hobby not a company. However, when your product requires ongoing development and maintaining cloud services you can't get by on one off sales unless you really make a ton of profit off of each one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dysamoria

niun

macrumors 6502a
Mar 31, 2015
686
1,012
This is really sad. The Pebble was no Apple Watch but adequately served a different market segment, and probably acted as a gateway to more expensive wearables.

There was no way I would pay for an Apple Watch as my first wearable, not sure if I would even like it. But I gladly paid $65 for a refurb Pebble Time to dip my feet into wearables. It's a great watch for what it is and what it does.

I'd be tempted by an Apple Watch if they played nice with Android. Pebble was always a win when it came to breaking out of the iOS Prison.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jeffreyg

Abazigal

Contributor
Jul 18, 2011
19,644
22,152
Singapore
That was my very thought when they continued to use kickstarter. Others lauded them for being innovative in using crowd sourcing, I thought it was a red flag, in that they couldn't produce it on their own or find enough customers to continue.

I can see the rationale of using Kickstarter. You know upfront the demand for your product, and so you know how much to produce so as to avoid overcommitting on stock or underproducing. I also viewed it as a preemptive move against the Apple Watch. If a person commits for a pebble 2 watch in June, they won't be getting an Apple Watch in December, even if the Pebble Watch would launch later.

That said, you typically offer a kickstart product at a discount. After deducting costs, I can't imagine that leaves Pebble much left in terms of profit.

I also don't like the idea of larger companies competing with smaller outfits for precious funding dollars.
 

Max Portakabin

Suspended
Sep 25, 2014
252
863
Just want a reliable smart watch with a seconds display. If you ever have to time events to exact moments, you'll know why.
 

firewood

macrumors G3
Jul 29, 2003
8,110
1,346
Silicon Valley
This practice enrages me, and it's why I turn down stock and demand higher pay.

Most companies never have IPOs. The stock never becomes worth anything. You'll almost certainly be better off just taking cash.

The key word is "almost".

A few of Apples earliest workers and suppliers who had the opportunity now wish they took stock instead of cash. When early Atari almost ran out of cash, one of the young secretaries took stock instead of a paycheck, ended up rich.

Ya place your bets and takes your chances...
 
  • Like
Reactions: EBone12355

shakerstevens

macrumors member
Jan 28, 2010
51
139
This is such bad news (for myself at least!)
I've long been a pebble fan and last month received my Pebble 2
I'm a big fan of several features that I can't seem to find on any other smartwatch for a similar price:
5-7 day battery life
Voice dictation replies to text messages
Canned text replies to text messages
Alerts with preview for everything on my iphone, (i.e. facebook notfications, email, text, instagram comments blah blah and the ability to turn off less important notifications).
Heart rate monitor
Sleep monitor
Always on display
Good water resitance
Magsafe style charger
Call answer/decline/end on pebble remotely of my iPhone

Nothing else comes close to under £99/$99.
I would be tempted for an Apple watch if the battery lasted longer than 2 days (I wear the pebble at night and it monitors my sleep patterns) and if it had an always on display.

I have an iPhone and MacBook air so the Apple watch would seem the logical step but for more than double the outlay and a poor battery life its not for me.

I would look at the fitbit but I'm put off by comments about their share value going down. Possilby a Garmin GPS watch but thats more like £150 for a mid range model.
 

jlc1978

macrumors 603
Aug 14, 2009
5,495
4,280
Just want a reliable smart watch with a seconds display. If you ever have to time events to exact moments, you'll know why.

Wouldn't you want a stopwatch for that? I've timed events and a stop watch's ease of use for timing beats anything I've tried to do with a watch; even if the watch is a chronograph. The tiny buttons and lack of features such as spots make a watch a poor substitute for a stop watch when it comes to accurate timing, IMHO.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dysamoria

JimmyJimmyYam

macrumors member
Apr 15, 2015
86
230
This makes me sad - my Pebbles (original, Time, Time Steel) have been my favourite gadgets in years, similar to that first-iPhone-feeling. Glad to be getting a refund though.

Won't be considering Apple Watch until watchOS is more intuitive & the battery is better.
 

StalkinWolf

macrumors newbie
Dec 6, 2011
4
1
I have been a Fitbit fan for years. But as soon as they wanted to close off their data and refused to support HealthKit, I had no choice but to give them the same respect they gave me.

They pushed me and my wife to go to the Apple Watch. They supports google health, Microsofts health app, but not HealthKit. What is up with that?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.