Fitbit buys out Pebble. Time 2 and Pebble Core models discontinued

Fitbit shares have been hit by slowing demand for activity trackers, competition from smartwatches, and concerns that wearable fitness devices might be a fad.

The company has weathered the release of the Apple Watch, Apple’s entrance into the wearables space, and managed to maintain a dominant position in the still relatively small wearables market.

Fitbit, the leading manufacturer of smart wearables, has reportedly employed 40% of Pebble’s staff, and majority are software engineers.

The news of the acquisition stands as a good reminder to early adopters that just because a company is first (or near first) on the market, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a success.

Fitbit will take over the company’s software and its smartwatch platform and it is expected to keep the software engineers, but everything and everyone else has been dropped.

Following the acquisition, Pebble’s offices will be closed and it will be up to Fitbit to decide whether to still use the Pebble brand, one of the people said.

As for Pebble, it looks like a sad end to the Kickstarter love story.

Bloomberg estimates that the deal was for less than $40 million, and Pebble will sell off its existing inventory and hardware operations separately. “Fitbit still faces the challenge that many other vendors are experiencing, and it’ll be important for them to separate the smart watch from the smartphone as well as create useful experiences for the consumer”.

Pebble, maker of smartwatches, has shuttered. Despite the launch of the Pebble 2 this fall, the company had to lay off 25 percent of its workforce in March.

That offered a different, more intimate relationship with a product’s buyers – but as others have found out, when things go wrong the anger of this new type of consumer/fan is all the greater. This is why they are now in debt and they need to be purchase in order to stay alive.

Yesterday’s update on the details of the acquisition comes at a time when the wearables market as a whole appears to be facing increased uncertainty and significant profit hurdles.

For many in the technology industry, Pebble’s sale and shutdown seemed inevitable after major firms such as Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google threw their hats into the smartwatch ring.

So how does this impact you, particularly if you’ve already bought a Pebble smartwatch? Some major tech companies have chose to not release new smartwatches this year in response to the market. Fitbit will be taking over the talent and software from Pebble, but they’re cutting the hardware portion of the business. Pebble’s developers will work alongside Fitbit’s current development team.