Pebble, the originator of the smartwatch and former boss of the market, is about to be sold. Its core assets (software, technology, developer) will be packaged to Fitbit and continue as the other longing for the Apple Watch. Pebble's history is only four years, but in these four years, it has witnessed the smart watch market. After the ups and downs of its decline, Lei Feng network (public number: Lei Feng network) will be systematically reviewed. Crowdfunding (2012) Pebble is a crowdfunding Initially, founder Eric Migicovsky lobbied investors around with the concept of a smartwatch that could display sms, but no one was optimistic about smartwatches at the time. He melts some money into the Y Combinator startup incubator, but it's not enough. So in April 2012, he launched a crowdfunding project for the first generation of Pebble watches at Kickstarter, immediately causing wild attention and financing of over $ 10 million. This created Kickstarter's fundraising record, which made the name rise. As a new product category, "smart watch" was officially born. It's hard to say whether Kickstarter made Pebble or Pebble made Kickstarter. Eric Migicovsky, founder of Pebble The first generation of Pebble equipped with electronic ink screen, through the Bluetooth and iPhone or Android phone connection. It shows caller information, emails, reminders for calendar events, weather, Facebook short messages and status, as well as alarms and stopwatch functions. The first generation of Pebble watches Dyslexia (2013) It turns out that even a simple, first-generation Pebble watch makes it much harder to finance than financing. After experiencing multiple bounces in design and manufacturing, Pebble finally shipped in January 2013. A few months later, Pebble received another $ 15 million in venture capital from Charles River Ventures, which was invested to boost production capacity. Pebble first-generation sales of excellent, Best Buy and AT & T have signed a sales agreement with the company. Shipment a month, Pebble mobile phone app downloads millions of times. High-end (2014) The success of the first generation of Pebble watches, inspired them to develop new products. In 2014, the company released Pebble Steel. It does not have crowdfunding but is still touted by the market. It has better compatibility with Android and runs faster. More importantly, its tall design subverts the impression of the first generation of Pebble soil dross. Consumers can choose from stainless steel or leather strap. This year, the smart watch market is taking off and Pebble Steel, which looks like the high-end quartz watch, has distanced them from their peers. Pebble Steel This year, Pebble not only occupy most of the smart watch market, or the hegemony of the wearable market - in the first quarter of 2014, Pebble smart wear market share reached a record 35%. In contrast, Fitbit is less than half Pebble. Shortly after its release, Pebble Steel joined the campaign tracking app for compatibility support. Pebble Time Series (2015) Until 2015, the Pebble smartwatch product line only appeared color display. In June of that year, Pebble Time was officially released (as well as its upgraded Pebble Time Steel for design and battery life). The product is equipped with a color electronic ink screen and a microphone, for the first time with voice input (voice to text) function. Color screen of Pebble Time The watch once again on the Kickstarter crowdfunding, and then break the record - financing over 20 million US dollars (as of 2015.03). Even so, Pebble is still in financial distress. It borrowed $ 5 million from banks and applied for a $ 5 million credit line. At the same time, the market is quietly changing, and consumers are losing interest in smartwatches that look less like watches (ugly ones). Pebble responded with Pebble Time Round. It uses a classic quartz watch design, a bright screen and leather strap, making it a traditional quartz watch competitors. The $ 249.99 price also makes it cost-effective. However, its screen does not support touch gestures, and some Pebble apps are not compatible with its round dial. Pebble Time Round with classic quartz watch design This year's smart watch big event is - Apple released Apple Watch in April. Pebble Time Round retreat in competition with it. Threats not only from Apple Watch, Android vendors have also admission. In its 2015 evaluation, Lei Feng pointed out that Pebble's products lag behind Apple Watch and the same generation of Android smartwatches in terms of design and configuration. This directly determines the fate of Pebble. Sharp turn (2016) Five months after Pebble Time Round was released, Pebble's financial position deteriorated. Even with another $ 26 million in venture capital funding, the company still has to lay off 25% of its workforce and seek to arm itself for help. In a Tech Insider interview, Founder Migicovsky said he wants the company to refocus on the health and sports market This is the mission of Pebble 2 + Heart Rate. But it clearly disappoints the expectations of consumers. PC Magazine commented that the Pebble 2 + Heart Rate is a good smart watch, but not a qualified sports tracker - heartbeat sensors do not fly, especially when sleeping. Failed sports watch Pebble 2 + Heart Rate Under heavy crisis, Pebble felt the need to revive its core competitiveness. Using best-of-breed crowdfunding as a lifesaver, Kickstarter launched the crowdfunding of three heavyweight products: Pebble 2, Time 2 and Pebble Core. The first two were the first-generation Pebble and Pebble Time upgrades, and the Core was a brand new wearable product - it was not a smartwatch and could be used independently of a smartphone and was compatible with Amazon's Alexa Voice Assistant. Pebble 2 (left), Time 2 (right) and Pebble Core (middle) The three whipped again, Kickstarter total financing over 12 million US dollars. Although still impressive, compared with the unprecedented financing of a single product, it is no longer the same. Later, "sell yourself" to prove that this 12 million can not restore the fate of Pebble. Fitbit relay next stick The acquisition of Fitbit means Pebble Time and Core are in abeyance, and consumers involved in crowdfunding get a refund. Pebble 2 has been shipped, many shops are still selling, but its production has stopped, technical support from the end. Fitbit will integrate Pebble's ecosystem and part of the research team that moves to Fitbit will play an important role. Fitbit after absorbing Pebble can not become Apple's opponent? This still needs to be observed. However, Pebble this wearable new star's fall, Lei Feng network concluded that: smart watches are not good to track the movement are rogue. This article is reprinted from Lei Feng network, if you have any questions, please send an email to wbsj@wbiao.cn to contact us.