Fitbit is buying Pebble's Software Assets. Watches to Windup

It’s said to hear Pebble shutting down. Pebble’s been around for a long time. They started off as being an accessory to the Blackberry and as a proof of concept of how convenient an accessory that the watch is.

But alas, post the 2015 launch of the Apple Watch, Pebble looked just a little better than a toy. Not only was the Apple Watch more elegant than Pebble, it outclassed them in areas which mattered: Fitness, Deep Software Integration for notifications and Apps.

I hope Smartwatches end up being more than just fitness tracking devices. The Apple Watch shows a lot of promise. With watchOS 3 apps are a lot more relevant, but then again Watch Series 2 is largely marketed as a fitness device. If its just a fitness device, why then does it have a 42 mm screen? For smartwatches to exist in the long run, they need to be better at doing more things.

At the moment it doesn’t look good for Apple’s competition though. With Motorola and Pebble exiting the business, it certainly looks like there are people who are giving up on watches. Apple says its going strong, but I’d love to see the eco-system evolve too.