Fitbit’s Acquisition Of Pebble, Plus Other News On The Wearables Sector

Fitness tracker giant Fitbit has completed its acquisition of Pebble, one of the first breakout brands in wearable devices. Fitbit had to pay a sum of $23 million in order to get the assets as well as intellectual property of Pebble, according to a press release. Back in December of last year, Fitbit had actually already revealed its plan to buy Pebble, with sources at that time stating that the sales price would be not more than $40 million. The terms of the merger have not been made public as of this time.

The global market for wearable devices registered growth of just 3 percent during the third quarter of last year, as reported by IDC. The market research firm went on to express its outlook regarding the wearables sector, saying that this particular market will continue to see some struggles in the next few months.

It was around a couple of years ago when Pebble first generated some buzz, especially in the crowdfunding crowd. At that time, the company managed to raise over $20 million for its Pebble Time smartwatch. Pebble also enjoyed healthy demand for its standard smartwatch offering and its Pebble Steel watch. 

So much has changed since then, especially in the world of wearable devices. Apple came into the picture and launched its Apple Watch, and since then, some of the world’s biggest mobile brands, like Samsung, LG, and Motorola, have followed suit, eager to give Apple’s first wearable device a run for its money. 

As for Pebble, it obviously could not compete against these powerhouse names, and by March of last year, it was forced to lay off about a fourth of its workforce. But now as part of Fitbit, the Pebble brand should stand a better chance at keeping itself afloat. Despite the success of the Apple Watch, the best selling wearable devices across the globe remains those fitness trackers made by Fitbit.

Fitness trackers seem to be faring well even with the increase in popularity of smartwatch devices. Another fitness tracker brand, Garmin, for instance, has recently reported a 10 percent increase in overall revenues. Some can argue that smartwatches are the cooler devices, but fitness trackers seem to remain the more widely used still. But considering that some of today’s smartwatches are now incorporating features also found on fitness trackers, they could eventually overtake fitness trackers in popularity someday. But for now, brands like Fitbit and Garmin continue to be relevant to most mobile users.