Remember Pebble? No, not the smooth and rounded stone you find at rivers and beaches, but the beloved smartwatch brand that was once, and probably still is, a darling among tech enthusiasts.
The wearable company was founded in 2012 by Eric Migicovsky and launched a couple of smartwatches via several successful Kickstarter programmes. Products like the original Pebble, Pebble Steel, and Pebble Time were particularly well received.
However, later products from the company did not share the same fate and the company sadly shut down in 2016, and was acquired by the fitness tracker maker Fitbit, which was later bought over by Google.
If you are or were a fan of those quirky smartwatches, you will be glad to know that Migicovsky has announced through a blog post that he will be bringing back Pebble smartwatches. He also confirmed that he will be launching his first revived product within this year (2025).
Revived Pebble smartwatch will run on open-source PebbleOS, thanks to Google
Migicovsky said that he has been in discussions with Google and has convinced the company to open-source PebbleOS, which it did. This will allow him to develop new iterations of Pebble smartwatches based on the OS, while also enabling developers and enthusiasts to access and modify the original firmware.
However, there is a high possibility that the newly revived lineup of smartwatches will carry the “Pebble” badge, as Google still owns the rights to the Pebble name.
Migicovsky: Apple, Samsung, and Google not taking any risks
Naturally, the revived “Pebble” smartwatch will be facing competition against the likes of smartwatches from major tech brands such as Apple, Samsung, and Google. But upon trying “every other watch” out there, Migicovsky said that they didn’t hit the core set of features he is looking for, such as simplicity, solid battery life, and the ability to download fun watch faces.
He also commented on how there are too many companies that are making gadgets, and how major players like Apple, Samsung, and Google aren’t taking any risks and are building the same old stuff every year.
Revived Pebble smartwatch to be as practical and quirky as ever
If this is your first time hearing about the Pebble brand or weren’t familiar with its past products, Pebble smartwatches gained a loyal following not because it came with flashy designs or displays that outshined its competitors back in the day.
Rather, it was the opposite. Pebble smartwatches were made to be simple and practical and even came without a touchscreen or full-coloured AMOLED displays, unlike smartwatches from Apple and Samsung. Instead, you use three physical buttons placed at the side of the watch to navigate and interact with its interface.
Pebble smartwatches also utilise e-paper displays that are always on and are very energy efficient, similar to those found on Kindle e-readers. This not only allowed the watches to last up to a week but was easily visible outdoors too. In fact, the brighter the environment, the easier it is to see what’s on the display. These factors made Pebble watches among the most practical in the market.
Despite being simple, Pebble smartwatches came with a quirky, and in some sense, “cutesy” software, which Migicovsky described as an OS that didn’t take itself too seriously. This helped it stand out from its other competitors.
With that, fans of the Pebble brand will certainly be glad to hear that for his upcoming product, Migicovsky is planning to stick to a formula similar to the past Pebble smartwatches.
“I want it to tell the time, show notifications, let me control my music, do step tracking, sleep tracking, that’s it”, said Migicovsky in an interview with Tom’s Guide.
The smartwatch will also run on the open-source PebbleOS, and according to the Pebble founder, he and his team have also been supporting the development of Cobble, an open-source Pebble-compatible app for iOS and Android. He even mentioned that he is currently daily driving the Android version of the app.
Migicovsky also repeatedly emphasised how he is a fan of the Pebble smartwatches’ ability to download fun watch faces. So do expect his upcoming smartwatch to share the same capability too.
Migicovsky’s new wearable company will be small to remain sustainable
Unfortunately, the idea of a smartwatch like Pebble has proven to be only popular among a niche group. Therefore, emphasizing long-term sustainability, Migicovsky is only building a small company to make these watches and is not expecting to raise money from investors or hire a big team.
If you’re interested in being one of the first to get the upcoming Pebble smartwatch, you may sign up at rePebble.com.
