The app store has reportedly been getting doubtful glances from third-party developers and even Spotify. Will Fitbit make it up by the fall?
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We discuss that aspect as well as our review process for lacking coverage in that specific aspect and, of course, Burger King. All in this week's show!
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Similar in design to the fitness-centric Blaze, but with GPS support and extra smarts in tow, Fitbit's full-on smartwatch isn't ready for primetime yet.
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You might be a fan of the little guy in technology. Maybe you’re simply looking for an alternative to the giants in the industry. Either way, it has been a rough couple of months. Three pretty popular companies have gone the way of the dodo since December. Pebble was the first to fall to FitBit. Not to be outdone by its competitor, Vector got itself gobbled up by what has become the Sarlac Pit of technology – or would it be a Rancor? Finally not too long ago, Nextbit – those of the plucky Robin were purchased by gaming giant, Razor. Which leaves us all asking, what’s a startup to do?
Nothing new
Small companies get gobbled up by larger companies all the time. Heck, I got my start in this industry by having my heart ripped out of my chest when HP shut down Palm. Others recall a fondness for Nokia – though that was more a case of a giant company being gobbled up by a Titan. But still, companies get absorbed and summarily dismissed often in this industry which doesn’t bode well for the small entities. It seems like whenever a small company has a big idea, a big company decides to buy it.
This can lead to wonderful things, like money and resources. Or it can lead to bad things like having the plug pulled 49 days later. It’s a topsy turvey world and we’re all just trying to get by in it. I want to be clear, I’m not a business expert nor do I claim to understand the intricacies of buying and selling intellectual property/assets/businesses, and the like. I just know it sucks I can’t buy a Pebble any more. And that’s what we’re here to talk about.
What do we do?
I mean really, what’s a tech fan supposed to do? Why should we become invested in companies like this to begin with? All that happens is some big conglomerate comes by and sucks up everything you love about a company and shuts it down, right? Well, maybe not always. Take for example a company like OnePlus. This isn’t going to be a rah-rah story for OnePlus, but the folks at OnePlus deserve some amount of credit for being where they are today. OnePlus has all the makings of a small little guy just waiting to get absorbed into some giant, and yet they’re still chugging along. This is the sort of success story that needs to be recognized in today’s ultra tech world.
When you look at Kickstarter – speaking of Pebble – you see a great deal of possibility just waiting to be discovered and adopted. There are a lot of interesting ideas on crowd-funding sites that could potentially turn the industry on its head – or at least stop and take notice. But it’s hard to have faith in companies when the dominoes have been falling as rapidly as they have been of late. If 2016 was the year of the celebrity death, 2017 is looking [...]
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If you can’t beat them, buy them out. In a nutshell, that seems to be an important part of Fitbit’s market consolidation and expansion strategy these days. To be fair though, this is already the leader of a highly competitive albeit unexpectedly stagnant industry, while recent acquisitions Pebble and Vector never got to fulfill their potential.
Needless to point out that the former had all the chances in the world, whereas the latter sold out before it could truly take off. Bottom line, we’re talking two very different wearable companies snapped up by San Francisco-based Fitbit of late, which suggests the 2007-born activity tracker vendor might branch out in several directions and product subcategories soon.
Similar to Pebble, Vector Watch specialized in manufacturing “understated, timeless” smartwatches with stellar battery life and frugal e-ink screens. But its Romanian co-founders, alongside a first-class team of international Timex, Nike and Fossil designer and executive alums, marketed relatively affordable devices like the Luna and Meridian as luxury fashion accessories in addition to high-tech gadgets.
It was an angle that seemed to work for a while, mostly because Vector’s intelligent timepieces indeed looked great for their price point, although Fitbit actually only purchased the Vector Watch “software platform”, also securing the “team’s” services.
No words on hardware, other than a predictable announcement of no “new product features (software and hardware)” to be added to Vector’s own-brand portfolio. No financial details disclosed either, and most importantly, mum’s the word on exactly how Vector’s “unique technology and knowhow” will be incorporated with “Fitbit’s experience and global community.”
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