Sometimes the goal of startups is to create a unique enough product or service and be acquired/bought out by big companies. Pebble has been a Kickstarter darling for quite a few years now, and recently we heard rumors that Fitbit could be acquiring the company which sounds like good news, right?
However a report from Bloomberg has confirmed the previous report in which Fitbit’s acquisition is more to own Pebble’s technology and assets rather than to keep the company alive. In fact if the report is any accurate, it seems that Fitbit’s acquisition of Pebble will see the company kill off two new Pebble products that were announced earlier this year: the Pebble Time 2 and the Pebble Core.
Pebble actually announced three watches earlier this year, and one of them is the Pebble 2 which has already been shipped out to customers. So what does this mean for customers who have already pre-ordered and backed the Time 2 and Core? According to Bloomberg, these customers will be refunded for their purchases, which we guess is fair but we can also see many users being frustrated by this decision.
Fitbit is also said look to close Pebble’s offices with some of Pebble’s engineers being relocated to Fitbit’s offices in San Francisco. It is unclear if Fitbit has any plans to keep the Pebble brand alive, but if they are going to kill off the latest lineup, it certainly doesn’t look that way, does it? So far nothing official has been announced, so take it with a grain of salt.
Filed in . Read more about Fitbit, Pebble, Smartwatch and Wearable Tech.