this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2025
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I really don't understand the significance of this. If there were really a market for epaper watches, why did no one make them for the last 10 years? Was PebbleOS really so amazing that no one could replicate anything similar?
At the time it made way more sense because the "traditional" smart watches were way worse. Not even one day battery life. I would say Pebble still wins on size though - actually normal watch sized.
As for why they didn't catch on.. Probably a little bit ahead of their time, and also less shiny.
Not asking why they didn't catch on. I'm asking why it would catch on today when it hasn't since the Pebble died. And why, even if a very small user-base exists for this type of product, no one has made them since.
A couple of possible reasons:
If it's a new company with fewer standards then more niche products become more viable. I don't know exactly what the situation at Pebble was but if they took lots of VC funding they can't turn around and say "ok we're just going to trundle along with this niche watch that is loved, but only by a few people". A small company can do that.
Advertising / brand awareness. Pebble was very well known, but if you make some random alternative nobody is even going to learn of your existence. This attempt is using the actual Pebble code and it's run by the ex-Pebble people.
Don't underestimate the software effort. Now that they have most of the code, resurrecting it is a lot easier.
Having said that, I would probably put my money on them doing a Kickstarter (which will do very well based on nostalgia), delivering a product that can't really compete with modern smart watches, and then slowly fading into the night. Hope not but I won't hold my breath. (I can't really wear watches anyway so it doesn't really affect me.)
it's a niche market, like not enough people wanting to buy a compact sub-5" flagship phone, so i'll never get one. let people enjoy it :)
Oh, don't me wrong, I will likely buy one. I am the target audience.
But either it's a niche market with not enough customers or it isn't. The OS doesn't change that.
You have far more faith in the decisions of our capitalist overlords than I do
I would drop my Galaxy Watch in a second if I could get a brand new pebble on better hardware with more sensors.
The Pebble platform doesn't make it super easy to monetize itself beyond hardware sales. There's no reason to make a watch like this from a business perspective. Plenty probably could, but no one with the resources to do it properly wanted to make something similar.
Except the creator said he will be selling a new one...
Hobbyists do lots of stuff that companies won't.
It's not a hobby, he's going to sell them.
He'll make tens, if not dozens, of dollars.
Well, if you're not more greed than man, hardware sales might be enough for you.
Because companies can make more money with flashy watches that steal your privacy
Right. That's my point. What's changed?
Nothing has, people still want a pebble and nobody has made one in 10 years. this project aims to do that again
If nothing's changed then what makes them think people will start buying them again?
Nothing has changed with the demand. There always was and has been demand albeit small. I'm going to order one for example
Probably no-one just took the responsibility to start doing it for free. Foss projects usually start from one or couple bored people just really wanting something so bad they'll start putting big hours to make it real
Who said anything about free?
Usually it starts "for free" and if you're lucky you might earn something from it
Fitbit bought them out after they mismanaged their expansion. My pebble kept working, but I lost the charging cable as I recall and couldn't get a replacement.
...ok?
Sorry, I was being pulled in two directions when I wrote that. Meant to talk about how ePaper watches were basically deleted from the market by Fitbit. They owned the IP and didn't make any, as far as I know. Now smart watches are a multi billion dollar market that Pebble helped popularize (maybe even created), and Pebble was cast aside. The hardware was so simple, effective, cheap, reliable, and lacking bloat that you could buy one and have it work perfectly for ages. Totally against the trend with tech.
Yeah that's my point. Why would anyone launch them again?
Because I fucking hate the trend!