news


Smartwatch Wars: Apple vs. Pebble

Español Pусский
May 2015


The Apple Watch seems to have taken its first victim in the battle for the smartwatch market, with competing smartwatch maker Pebble struggling to stay afloat.

In 2012, a startup company by the name of Pebble was looking for $100,000 in funding on Kickstarter to make a wearable smartwatch. In the end, Pebble managed to get over $10 million in crowd funding during that campaign to fund its e-paper watch project.

Since then, the company has grown exponentially. It sold over a million of its first generation e-paper smartwatches, and its offices grew to employ over 150 people. During that time, the California based watch brand also managed to hold off competition from the Android Wear.

A trio of Pebble e-paper smartwatches
A trio of Pebble e-paper smartwatches

But taking on the Apple Watch in 2015 means dealing with a completely different animal. And despite fears from the Swiss watch industry from the threat posed by the Apple Watch, it now appears that Apple has taken its first real victim on American soil.

With sales of the Apple Watch soaring, Pebble is starting to drop like a rock. In fact, Pebble just finished another Kickstarter campaign – which raised just over $20 million – to fund its next generation Time smartwatch. But even with the public’s support, the company is still struggling, based on the diagnosis of insiders.

The new Pebble Time smartwatches
The new Pebble Time smartwatches

According to Tech Crunch reports, the company is struggling to maintain its growth, turning to a Silicon Valley bank for a $5 million loan, with an additional $5 million line of credit.

But even with the $20 million of crowd funding and the combined $10 million of bank infusions, the company is still shopping for venture capital “in order to stay afloat.” According to the source, many of Pebble’s employees are apparently unhappy with the direction of the company in its attempts to challenge competitors like Apple.

Indeed the battle of Pebble vs. Apple seems like the classic battle of David vs. Goliath. In that case, it was David that won. But it appears that we are not in Biblical times now. (VJ)