Peter Pan in the smartwatch industry

[mme_hardy]

 Pebble just announced that they'd been bought by Fitbit.  Fitbit is taking the software people and the intellectual property, firing everybody else, and shutting down manufacturing and warranty immediately.   This sort of thing happens in Silicon Valley.

What is unusual is the cheerful way Pebble chose to announce all this.   Note in particular this image:


We'll never deliver the products you Kickstarted, the products you bought are dead on your wrist, but hey, at least the engineers are having fun joking about it!

P.S.  Guy on the left:  get a fedora that fits.

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

Wow.

The comments are abut as angry as you'd expect. I see they have changed the refund turn around.

[movingfinger]

Of the four Kickstarter projects I have ever backed (I'm reeeally wary of this model), just one has produced and delivered the thing it was designed to support. No coincidence: that one project was being carried out by someone I know personally who was engaged with his project and was motivated to complete it, someone who I knew had already completed other, non-Kickstarter-sponsored, big long-term art projects.

Of the others, zilch. If I include other "pay now to help us complete this, receive your item later" appeals over the years, the average goes down to around 10% completed I think.

[mme_hardy]

I've mostly backed books and comics, all from people who were farming out the production and shipping, often to Topatoco. Those have all delivered. It's a good model for "get the printing money up front, print the book, keep the extras." and at least if there isn't enough money to finance a print run, the artist finds out in advance. Anything with manufacturing, though, is a very iffy thing -- just about nobody who Kickstarts a physical object has any idea just how hard manufacturing is, and that in particular manufacturing offshore in China requires substantial negotiating skills and enormous turnaround times between prototypes.

The most successful manufacturing Kickstarters I've seen have also been "I already manufacture and sell X, now I want to extend the line to include Y." I got a fabulous bra and a useful yarn-holder-thingy that way. (I love this bra so damn much. I now have three. It is the best around-the-house/casualwear bra I've ever owned.)

But a new product from an unknown/inexperienced manufacturer? Never again.

[castiron]

The only thing I've supported on Kickstarter is a book from a company that I'm familiar with and who've successfully fulfilled their obligations in previous Kickstarters. They're sending regular updates, and I'm confident that I will receive the book when they say I will.

There is also a reason why this is the only project I've ever supported on Kickstarter.

[mme_hardy]

My kids follow a lot of Webcomics whose bound paperbacks are put out through Kickstarter.

[kore]

Yeah, I've supported an artist via Kickstarter who does the Inktober thing every year so far, and that means all the art is done already and they finance a print run, make a profit and I get a nice art book. Trying to develop any kind of manufacturing thing on Kickstarter just seems like a nightmare.

[rydra_wong]

Yeah, I've had good results backing books, comics and films.

just about nobody who Kickstarts a physical object has any idea just how hard manufacturing is

Sounds accurate.

[telophase]

just about nobody who Kickstarts a physical object has any idea just how hard manufacturing is,

Yup. I've backed a number of Kickstarters and only one has failed to deliver, but I believe only one, maybe two, of them have arrived on time. Mostly it seems that the people estimating the time it takes to manufacture forget to factor in time for getting a prototype that fails to live up to expectations and having to go back for one or more rounds of redesign.

[ironed_orchid]

I've mostly backed books and CDs, and all have arrived. Probably because people understand how to make books and CDs. It's the "develop this new gadget" projects which seem to have the most trouble.

[kore]

Much of our team and resources will join Fitbit to deliver new “moments of awesome” in future Fitbit products, developer tools, and experiences

Ahahaha that's what you think, pally.

One-to-one Pebble support is no longer available. Any Pebble currently out in the wild is no longer covered by or eligible for warranty exchange.

WOW. I R Not a Lawyer, but that seems like it could land them in some deep shit.