Are smartwatches winding down? | TechCrunch

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3 Comments

  1. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Julia Love / Reuters:
    Tim Cook says Apple Watch set a new sales record during first week of holiday shopping, and the current quarter is on track to be the best ever for the product — Sales of the Apple Watch to consumers set a record during the first week of holiday shopping, and the current quarter is on track …

    Apple Watch sales to consumers set record in holiday week, says Apple’s Cook
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-watch-idUSKBN13V0BT

    Sales of the Apple Watch to consumers set a record during the first week of holiday shopping, and the current quarter is on track to be the best ever for the product, Apple Inc (AAPL.O) Chief Executive Tim Cook told Reuters.

    Responding to an email from Reuters, Cook said the gadget’s sell-through – a measure of how many units are sold to consumers, rather than simply stocked on retailers’ shelves – reached a new high.

    Cook’s comments followed a report on Monday from technology research firm IDC estimating that the tech giant sold 1.1 million units of the Apple Watch during the third quarter of 2016, down 71 percent from the year-ago quarter. The comments offer a glimpse of the gadget’s performance during the holiday quarter, which is typically Apple’s strongest.

    Cook did not respond to a request for specific sales figures for the gadget.

    Reply
  2. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Bloomberg:
    Sources: Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky to rejoin Y Combinator as partner; Fitbit close to buying Pebble software assets, has sent job offers to 40% of Pebble staff — Pebble CEO Migicovsky said planning to join Y Combinator — Fitbit Inc., the fitness band maker, is close to buying software assets …

    Fitbit Is Close to Buying Software Assets From Pebble
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-07/pebble-said-to-discuss-selling-software-assets-to-fitbit

    Fitbit Inc., the fitness band maker, is close to buying software assets from struggling smartwatch startup Pebble Technology Corp. in a bid to better compete with Apple Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.

    The deal is mainly about hiring the startup’s software engineers and testers, and getting intellectual property such as the Pebble watch’s operating system, watch apps, and cloud services, the people said.

    The purchase price is less than $40 million, and Pebble’s debt and other obligations exceed that, two of the people said. Fitbit is not taking on the debt, one of the people said. The rest of Pebble’s assets, including product inventory and server equipment, will be sold off separately, some of the people said.

    The Pebble fire sale is the result of financial struggles in a smartwatch market that failed to grow as quickly or as large as initially hoped and hyped. Industry shipments slumped 52 percent in the third quarter, according to research firm IDC, and Pebble cut a quarter of its staff earlier this year.

    Apple Watch sales have been lackluster compared with iPhones, although Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook told Reuters Tuesday that sales are “off the charts.”

    Fitbit began sending job offers to about 40 percent of Pebble’s employees in the last week. Most of these are software engineers

    Pebble announced three new watches in May, the Pebble 2, Time 2, and the Pebble Core. The Pebble 2 has already started shipping to people who funded the startup through crowd-funding site Kickstarter. The Time 2 and Pebble Core will be canceled and refunds will be issued to Kickstarter backers, one of the people said.

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  3. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Lauren Goode / The Verge:
    Fitbit confirms Pebble software assets acquisition; Pebble is shutting down, cancels Pebble Time 2 and Core, and will issue Kickstarter refunds — Wearables are in a precarious state — Digital health and fitness-tracking company Fitbit has just officially announced that it is buying key assets …

    Fitbit formally announces that it is buying smartwatch maker Pebble
    The acquisition excludes Pebble’s hardware products
    http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/7/13867158/fitbit-buys-pebble-smartwatch-acquisition-deal

    Digital health and fitness-tracking company Fitbit has just officially announced that it is buying key assets from smartwatch startup Pebble, after reports emerged last week that a deal between the two was close to being completed.

    Fitbit co-founder and CEO James Park said in a release that the company “sees an opportunity to build on our strengths and extend our leadership position in the wearables category.”

    “With this acquisition, we’re 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,” Park continued. The deal was closed yesterday, December 6th.

    Reply

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