The official Pebble blog announced smartwatch products, firmware updates, and company news.
HN links it for Pebble announcements; commenters note its always-upbeat posts gave no hint of the company's trouble, though one owner bought a second watch.
This was supposed to be a comment expressing my fear of subscription-model hardware, but I looked at the site and - what the hell, take a look at [0] - aren't they just rebranding Pebbles? Most of the watches look very much like Pebble Time, and this one[1] is literally Pebble Classic (you can even see the standard Pebble status bar).
"Made by Smart Monitor, the SmartWatch is a patented, intelligent motion detecting and alerting wristwatch."
Yeah, right.
EDIT: The watch names suggest it too[2]. Also note that they're basically charging 50% more for the watch itself than the official Pebble shop, and that is before the activation fee and monthly subscription fee.
EDIT2: The more I search, the more I'm confused about them. They look legit, and apparently[3] they even had their own smartwatch prototype before moving to Pebble. But there's no mention of "Pebble" on their site, or in any materials related to them that I can find. Moreover, this interview[4] says they're planning to get this (presumably Pebble version) FDA-certified, which makes me wonder - aren't they going to find themselves in competition with Pebble itself? Ironically, both them and Pebble seem to be cooperating with Stanford[5][6].
Oh, and did I mention they claim to have a trademark on the word "smartwatch" itself?
[0] - http://smart-monitor.com/smartwatch/about-smartwatch/
[1] - http://smart-monitor.com/wp-content/gallery/gallery1/PW-watch-thumb-1B.jpg
[2] - http://smart-monitor.com/buy-now/
[3] -…
Just read previous posts on https://blog.getpebble.com/ .
Man, you really can't tell whether a startup is doing well or not from outside. Everything's AWESOME all the time:
* Oct 31, 2016: Get Spooky with Halloween Pebble Faces!
* Oct 18, 2016: What’s New in Pebble’s 4.2 Firmware and Apps
* Oct 05, 2016: Pebble 2: Fit & Smart
* Sep 30, 2016: Pebble 2 Kickstarter Rewards Start Shipping
* Sep 14, 2016: Pebble Core = More Awesome with Amazon Alexa Expansion in the UK and Germany
... and then suddenly making big headline: "Dec 7, 2016: Pebble's next step".
I've been using my Pebble I got from UIUC when they gave hundreds away:
https://blog.getpebble.com/2013/12/16/pebbling-schools-in-the-name-of-awesome/
It was some good marketing, because I just bought a new one because I loved it so much.
Can someone update the link? Pebble's official blog post has gone live now: https://blog.getpebble.com/tag/pebble-time-round/
https://blog.getpebble.com/2016/12/07/fitbit/