this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2025
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At the time it made way more sense because the "traditional" smart watches were way worse. Not even one day battery life. I would say Pebble still wins on size though - actually normal watch sized.
As for why they didn't catch on.. Probably a little bit ahead of their time, and also less shiny.
Not asking why they didn't catch on. I'm asking why it would catch on today when it hasn't since the Pebble died. And why, even if a very small user-base exists for this type of product, no one has made them since.
A couple of possible reasons:
If it's a new company with fewer standards then more niche products become more viable. I don't know exactly what the situation at Pebble was but if they took lots of VC funding they can't turn around and say "ok we're just going to trundle along with this niche watch that is loved, but only by a few people". A small company can do that.
Advertising / brand awareness. Pebble was very well known, but if you make some random alternative nobody is even going to learn of your existence. This attempt is using the actual Pebble code and it's run by the ex-Pebble people.
Don't underestimate the software effort. Now that they have most of the code, resurrecting it is a lot easier.
Having said that, I would probably put my money on them doing a Kickstarter (which will do very well based on nostalgia), delivering a product that can't really compete with modern smart watches, and then slowly fading into the night. Hope not but I won't hold my breath. (I can't really wear watches anyway so it doesn't really affect me.)