Founder and CEO of Pebble Eric Michigowski announced plans to revive smartwatch production.
In 2016, Michigowski’s company went bankrupt and was acquired by Fitbit, which was later swallowed by Google for $2.1 billion, thereby acquiring the intellectual property and software of Pebble.
Now, Google has opened the source code of PebbleOS, and in a TechCrunch comment, Michigowski announced the relaunch of the smartwatch series. According to him, the devices will work on the same principle as the original Pebble — having an E-ink display, long battery life, physical buttons, simple interface, and programmability.
“The watch we will create will primarily have the same specifications and features as Pebble, but with some interesting new features,” — wrote the founder of Pebble in his blog. “It will run on PebbleOS with open-source code and will be compatible with all Pebble apps and watch faces.”
Interestingly, even 9 years after closing, Pebble has a quite active community of volunteers who occasionally release updates for smartwatches.
“This is part of Google’s efforts to support volunteers who have united to maintain the functionality of Pebble watches after the company ceased operations in 2016,” — wrote Google in its blog on Monday.
The new version of Pebble is still in the idea stage, but Michigowski plans to fully immerse himself in the project once full access to PebbleOS is opened. Also, according to him, the company needs a new name (to avoid legal issues) and an additional employee, who will be involved in March.
At the same time, Michigowski plans to develop the project modestly, not involving venture financing and crowdfunding, focusing exclusively on consumer demand.
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