> It's an absolutely shame that Pebble was so innovative and functional, but couldn't reach mass market.

I think trying to reach "mass market" - or specifically, the market of people who are into fitness and sportsball - is largely what killed them. I'd like to believe that they could've catered to existing userbase a bit longer, grew a little more slowly but sustainably by doubling down on an idea of an ergonomic, battery-efficient, programmable smartwatch extension - a tool, not a toy.

Alas, maybe the whole thing was over once Apple, and Samsung got their marketing wheels spinning.

> Alas, maybe the whole thing was over once Apple, and Samsung got their marketing wheels spinning.

Totally possible, like Nokia vs the iPhone. Difficult to say for sure though, seeing vendors like Fitbit and Garmin still operate in the same space.

Not as ergonomic, no e-paper, and not hackable. They're fitness gadgets, not tools.

Certainly.

I think openness is vital for such a (new) platform or ecosystem in general. It's certainly older by now compared to when Pebble first started, but in my opinion a lot of the organic growth has been stunted.

It's too difficult to try new things, find new useful applications and to innovate with all these walled _wearable_ gardens.

Is a diving watch a tool or fitness gadget?

I have the opposite opinion on what's a tool and what's a toy.

Garmin devices are hackable to an extent. There is an SDK so you can write custom apps, although some of the hardware functionality isn't accessible.

I’d strongly disagree with tool vs fitness gadget here. Compare a Garmin to an Apple Watch or pebble, and it absolutely is a tool. Arguably the MIP display beats out the ePaper, ergonomics are great (I can use the buttons even while swimming), and it’s built like a brick. Not knocking the pebble too hard, but it certainly seems like an enthusiasts toy. I’m not sure what else would last me a week while tracking exercising for an hour or two each day.

I think the ethos if the tech world is "grow as fast as possible or die" but there should be more companies that create good products and make a profit catering to a small demographic. 2 million customers is nothing to sneeze at.

Pebble Time (Steel) Kickstarter is the only crowdfunding I truly regret missing out on. I remember seeing it at the time, but I think the reward levels I wanted were sold out or something.

Even in retrospect it seems weird that it failed the way it did.

I'm still using it, in fact to the point that it's probably the biggest factor why I have been procrastinating on still staying on Android rather than trying alternatives like PinePhone.

That the OS has been open sourced is great news (though it's sad it was on GitHub... and hopefully other communities around Pebble will spring up outside of platforms (article only mentions Discord and Reddit)).

On the GitHub it says: > Proprietary source code has been removed from this repository and it will not compile as-is. This is for information only.

Not sure how much use it is?

They list out what the proprietary bits are. All of it is third party gernical hardware interface libraries that they do not own. Bluetooth stack, etc. All stuff you can rewrite easier today.

The Magic of pebble was the UX of the OS and it's extensive hackability. All that magic is OSS now.