The platform, started up by a former Pebbler and endorse by former CEO Eric Migicovsky, is now trying to get fans to import their data by June 30.
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Pole position: Galaxy S9, LG G7, RED Hydrogen One | #PNWeekly 289 (LIVE at 3p ET)
On this week's show: the flagship smartphones of 2018 begin to reveal themselves in mysterious ways and the app and ecosystem shutdowns that flew by.
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Pebble support wraps up in June, Fitbit offering discount on Ionic
If you own a Pebble product, you'll be able to take $50 off a new Ionic. And soon, you'll have more of a reason to drop your Time Round or Steel.
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Will the Fitbit smartwatch ever launch? Was the Pebble acquisition all for naught?
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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The LG G6 sucks, but kinda only in this one aspect… | #PNWeekly 248
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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Fitbit’s first ‘proper’ smartwatch needs more time to iron out production kinks
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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Fitbit makes progress getting Pebble watches to work independent of cloud services
Fitbit still has some work to do to ensure Pebble watches will work 6 or 12 months from now, but cloud reliance is gradually being decreased.
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Forget MWC 2017, how about Android Oreo in space? | #PNWeekly 241
So, forget the whole MWC 2017 thing, let's just do a whole podcast on Snapchat Spectacles, LTE-U and Android Pocky. How's about that?
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What chance do small companies stand versus giants?
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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Fitbit disappoints in holiday quarter, letting go 110 employees
A sluggish holiday quarter and an overall sluggish year is the word from Fitbit. But the company did come away from 2016 with some new assets it can use.
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The Information: Fitbit job cuts expected following holiday sales slump
No numbers have been detailed. The company is expected to give a downbeat overview of its fourth quarter performance on January 30.
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The Information: Fitbit job cuts expected following holiday sales slump
No numbers have been detailed. The company is expected to give a downbeat overview of its fourth quarter performance on January 30.
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Fitbit snaps up software platform and ‘team’ behind stylish Vector smartwatches
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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Samsung Fights Verizon over Note 7 and Nokia Launches a Phone | #PNWeekly 231
A power play is taking place between Samsung and Verizon over the Note 7. Is Samsung right for disabling the phone, or is Verizon right for preserving consumer choice? Also, Nokia quietly launches a phone. Fitbit hopes to maintain support for Pebble products, and Apple AirPods are pricey to replace if you lose them.
Those stories, plus we answer YOUR viewer questions, so make sure you’re charged and ready for the Pocketnow Weekly Podcast!
Watch the live video broadcast from 10:00pm Pacific on December 15th, or check out the high-quality audio version right here.
For folks watching live, you can comment and ask questions by using the #PNWeekly hashtag on Twitter during the broadcast. For folks watching later, you can shoot your listener emails to podcast [AT] pocketnow [DOT] com for a shot at getting your question read aloud on the air the following week!
Pocketnow Weekly 231
Recording Date
December 15, 2016
Host
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Samsung VS Verizon: Note 7 Shutdown Showdown
(00:12:32)
We have a fight brewing between manufacturer and carrier. Samsung will be disabling the Note 7 through a software update. Verizon has decided not to participate with that update. What responsibilities do tech companies have in enforcing consumer protection situations?
News
32:57 | Will Google Assistant put a stop to Samsung’s Viv?
45:14 | Will Galaxy S8 curved screens drive sales? Probably not…
55:51 | HMD quietly launches a phone which North Americans won’t buy!
59:34 | FitBit “hopes” to keep Pebble running through 2017
1:04:41 | T-Mobile won’t sell the Pixel, but you might be able to buy one at a T-Mobile store?
1:14:36 | Google Keyboard is now GBoard on Android
1:16:07 | Will flexible LCDs beat AMOLED for bendy phones?
1:23:03 | Will phone calls be allowed on airplanes?
1:32:43 | Is the world ready to kill 2G? Singapore shutting it down in 2017
Apple Airpods Saga: Pricey to Replace
(01:39:39)
A lot of people hoping for some white AirPods to compliment a white Christmas are apt to be disappointed, as there’s still significant delays in shipping the product. We do have more info on warranty and replacement costs though, and if you lose a Pod or the charge case, it’s not going to be cheap to replace…
•
See you next week!
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Fitbit hopes to rain down Pebble’s cloud services through 2017
Pebble’s hardware days are over. Fitbit bought the smartwatch outfit and has gutted it of its software and intellectual property. It has drawn a clear line on refunds and returns. Now where’s the way forward as the health tech company takes over and the smartwatches fossilize?
Well, the company has promised a few things in terms of keeping live cloud-based services afloat — ergo, the core experience of Pebble smartwatches still in use today.
“Our first action to preserve the Pebble experience far into the future will be to update our mobile apps, loosening their dependency on a patchwork of cloud services (authentication, analytics, app locker, etc.),” said Jon Barlow, a Pebble transplant to Fitbit.
The goal for the team is to rain apps down to the devices — either by severing ties with some cloud services or, perhaps, working with open source solutions — and keep them working while not bricking anything in the process (think of it as brain surgery with a conscious patient). As it stands now, the current arrangement of services in use are still in place, but will be whittled through 2017.
Pebble Health APIs, as they are not cloud-based, will still feed to Google Fit and Apple HealthKit. Third-party services like weather, messaging and dictation are at a determination stage. Pebble expects to disclose how long these services can last and to what extent soon.
Nevertheless, we will now have to start watching Pebble OS die.
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