San Francisco – Fitbit, a company focused on fitness gadgets and health trackers, is reportedly buying Pebble, a small but technologically accomplished maker of smartwatches, for the bummer sum of $40m. None of the parts involved have confirmed it yet, but many insiders are cataloging the price as “very small”.
The news come after several rumors of Fitbit taking advantage of the rocky sales, and outing Pebble has experienced along the tech critics and experts support. The merge would mean a perfect blending in which the customer gets the best of both worlds. Fitbit assures itself on the market area, and Pebble gets to retire with some dignity. The deal includes control of assets such as intellectual property rights and software.
Stories of redemption
Pebble started off just right in the industry, raising $10.3 million through a Kickstarter campaign that ran from April 11, 2012, through May 18, 2012. This was the largest quantity of money raised for any product on the site at that time, including that it was completely sold out in Best Buy stores in just five days. Sadly, as of now, it has not been a steady business.
The Pebble 2 Smartwatch was released this past October and was met with mediocre sell numbers that caused the firm struggle to pay debts, and the successor device release, the Pebble Time, on a shipment limbo. Just like the Pebble Core, that would incorporate music streaming, GPS, and workout tracking. However, if the sale does happen, the public will very probably never get them.
As if it was not bad enough, they had to let go of 40 of their employees because of funding issues.
Fitbit, on the other hand, enjoys a more strong position. It is only a bit more than a year old and has released new creative health tracking devices in the course of still developing a defined mission market.
Nevertheless, it has not always been easy for the company since it has faced widely covered criticism for the lack of precision of some of its products and heart rate tracking accuracy. Products like the OS X and the Fitbit Blaze, which were released this year, failed to mix up the smartwatch technology and the fitness radar, and left the company with products that, according to experts, were simply uncomfortable in performance and design.
One of the most important features that FitBit is looking to get from Pebbles is the large amount of apps running on it and its connection to Apple and iOS software. They are no strangers to merging with forces as they bought mobile payments technology assets from Coin seven months ago.
Better days are possible
The last couple of years has not been easy for the smartwatch industry, as it has experienced a 51 percent decline in its sales. Numerous tech media outlets are suggesting their audiences get a Pebble as fast as they can, and expect the best of these two names joining forces and creating a smartwatch capable of competing with the reigning top slot, the Apple Watch.
Source: Computer World