Fitbit officially acquires Pebble's software assets and IP

By Harish Jonnalagadda
published

Following reports from earlier today, Fitbit has officially announced that it is acquiring "specific assets" of Pebble that includes "key personnel and intellectual property related to software and firmware development." No monetary terms were disclosed, but Bloomberg's report suggested the deal was valued under $40 million.

Fitbit co-founder and CEO James Park said in the official announcement that Fitbit is now "well positioned to accelerate the expansion of our platform and ecosystem to make Fitbit a vital part of daily life for a wider set of consumers, as well as build the tools healthcare providers, insurers and employers need to more meaningfully integrate wearable technology into preventative and chronic care."

Following the acquisition, Pebble will cease to operate as an independent entity{.nofollow}. The company has already stopped taking any new orders, and has mentioned that warranty support is no longer available. Pebble has also clarified that Kickstarter customers awaiting their orders will receive refunds within 4-8 weeks.

Harish Jonnalagadda
Harish Jonnalagadda
Senior Editor - Asia

Harish Jonnalagadda is a Senior Editor overseeing Asia for Android Central, Windows Central's sister site. When not reviewing phones, he's testing PC hardware, including video cards, motherboards, gaming accessories, and keyboards.

15 Comments
  • The question is when are wearables going to hike up and become popular like smartphones did in the last 5 years where they growth exponentially and for some people became PC replacement.  I think Wearables are far away for becoming as popular as smartphones.
  • They won't, for one of two reasons: 1) Simpler systems like Pebble and Vector are entirely dependent on connection to a smartphone. Unless 100% of the people that bought a smartphone ran out to buy a Vector, this wouldn't happen. 2) More complex systems like Android Wear and (eventually, probably) watchOS that can work independently of a phone suck. They try to cram too much functionality into too small of a screen, and the experience is terrible.  When you factor in the cost of something that's not as essential or useful as a smartphone, there are a lot of factors working against smartwatches. They'll end up like tablets have: a lot of buzz at first but the category slowly dies. 
  • Android wear and tizen watches can do a bit independent of a phone, even more if you get one with a cellular radio. Also, I'm not quite sure where you get the idea that tablets are dead.
  • People don't like wearing tech. This has been proven for almost a century with 3D glasses (and in a way, glasses in general with a huge switch to contacts). Having a cell phone with the time on it made tons of people stop wearing watches, because people don't like wearing tech. Wearable tech of any kind is never going to be mainstream.
  • Never say never
  • The problem with your comment is I can't go a day without seeing someone with a Fitbit(or comparable item) and they are getting more and more advanced every year.
  • When will Microsoft release its bands in India.
  • They discontinued them...
  • The Band has been killed. 
  • The question is, when will fitbit make the pebble app for windows now?
  • Never.  Fitbit is shutting down all Pebble hardware, and even warranty support for existing hardware.  The announcement said something to the effect there may be an update to make Pebble less cloud-dependent, and they're keeping the app store open for a year to, in theory, hand it off to the community, but it's pretty much toast at this point.
  • How in god's name was it only 40 million?!
  • hey there, pebble previously denied offers of being bought out + declining wearables sales = less than 40 million u.s. dollars.
  • hey, wow talk about a wild ride for this company. from setting kickstarter records to drama with the pebble app for windows phone to assets being bought out, all in a few years.
  • The drama with the windows app was not that big...only for the couple of dozen people who had windows phones.