Too many competitors in a same business niche? The solution is the purchase, absorption and progressive elimination of any of them. It has happened throughout life, and as the saying says it: “the big fish eats the small fish”. It is unpleasant, and those who have lived it know it, but that’s life, isn’t it? And it seems that a movement is thus about to occur in the wearables devices.
Although not is is of an information official, different sources are running in the direction of that Fitbit would be punto de acquire to the already legendary manufacturer of smartwatches Pebble. The idea? Removed in the middle of way direct to a competitor in the decline in sales to try to reverse a trend.
Pebble will disappear engulfed by Fitbit
According to several sources, Fitbit is on the verge of acquiring the Pebble smart watch manufacturer. Recall that Pebble was one of the first companies to bet on the segment of wearables or wearable devices. He was born of a campaign of crowdfunding in which many believed and were able to get to the market one of the first smart clocks with an unexpected success and operation and performance more than acceptable. Those who have it know well. However, strong competition, coupled with a gradual disenchantment by consumers with regard to these devices clearly dependent on a smartphone, without forgetting the strong emergence of Apple Watch, have led to Pebble to not reap the expected success, or at least that is the impression given after the release of their last bets.
On the other hand, Fitbit nor seems to live its best moment, and although the company specialises more in quantifier as in ordinary watches bracelets, acquisition and deletion of the map of Pebble would allow him to shake up a competitor to increase its market.
Indeed, the agreement between both companies occurs at a time in which both Pebble and Fitbit face a degressivity of sales, wages and benefits, framed in a broader trend that affects all the sector of clothing technology (and) also to smartphones and tablets. According to sources, the Fitbit for Pebble plans go through a phasing out of this latest brand.
And what is known about the details of the operation?
Few details are known regarding this operation which, currently, is full of rumors across the network.
On the price to Fitbit could pay for Pebble, there is a significantly important figures dance. Some media such as Techcrunch indicate that the figure would be placed in a fork between 34 and 70 million dollars, an amount that clearly reveals the lightweight Pebble has already in the industry. In fact, this payment is confirmed, would be far from the 70 million dollars that Intel offered earlier this year, and even further from those assumptions, and incredible, 740 million dollars offered by the Swiss watchmaker Citizen by the year 2015. But we insist, nothing is confirmed, nor much less all these figures.
Moreover, The Information and Financial Times newspapers point out that, in any case, the figure paid by Pebble Fitbit will be relatively small, but Fitbit will be done with all intellectual property of Pebble, including your operating system’s smartwatch, because Pebble brand will be eliminated once the agreement has been closed.
Different paths for a joint final
From 2015, Pebble has been looking for a buyer who wants to due to financial problems it was already experiencing.
Last July, the company launched three new smartwatches – the Core Pebble and Pebble 2, Time 2. The following month, it released a software update that optimized their interface and redesigned the “Pebble Health” function. But despite previous efforts, the company had to lay off 25 members of its staff in March.
Last February, the CEO of Pebble, Eric Migicovsky, said that the company was not worried about the Apple Watch, largely because Pebble was less focused on applications that Apple. Following the launch of the Apple Watch, the Cupertino company quickly became the leader of the smartwatches, although last month an IDC report stated that the general intelligent watches market fell in a 51.6% during the third quarter.
As for Fitbit, the acquisition may signal that the company is seeking to expand beyond sports wearable devices. In August, along with his new Charge 2 and Flex 2, the company announced all new luxury leather belts and other accessories of first quality. But Fitbit has also been poor financial results with its shares falling 30% after announcing mixed third quarter results and a weak Outlook for its fourth quarter.
Thus, the absorption would mean the end of a brand, Pebble, and perhaps another, Fitbit impulse.
