Fitbit acquires Pebble for $40 million
Fitbit has acquired software assets from Pebble. The deal is about Pebble's intellectual property in the form of OS, watch apps, and cloud services.
Additionally, Fitbit also hires Pebble's software engineers and testers. As much as 40% of Pebble's engineers have received job offers from Fitbit already. Those who don't will get severance packages.
The price Fitbit will pay for the assets is $40 million. Pebble's debt and obligations exceed that and the company will likely cover them with selling its product inventory and server equipment.
Pebble's woes come from a staggering decline in the smartwatch market with shipments marking a fall of 52% in Q3 of 2016 according to IDC stats. Pebble's devices will likely be discontinued after the acquisition.
Reader comments
- Anonymous
- X}M
Pebble was the first company which came up with a smart watch idea. It's a sad day for small companies which innovative and come with ideas. I have seen this happen to Modu Mobile Phones it was such an awesome concept. Then came along Jolla a real ni...
- mixa
- pwT
It's normal.Smart watches even in the form that pebble was offering are a gimmick.Not to mention that when you buy a watch, you expect to wear it for at least few years, but company like pebble needs to sell all the time. Also, most of pebble desi...
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