Vuln!! Path it now!!
January 9, 2017
Leave a comment
Tag
As rumored, Fitbit has officially finalized their buyout of Pebble. Though, using the term “buyout” or “purchase” seems a bit misleading. In fact, Pebble sent out an email today declaring that they were shutting down the company. The communication referred to Fitbit deciding to purchase “key assets.” Therefore, counter to the original rumor, Fitbit is not acquiring Pebble. Instead, Pebble closed shop today and Fitbit was first in line to buy any meaningful assets. While a small detail, this means that the financials at Pebble were likely far worst than predicted.
If we had to guess, similar to last summer, Pebble was desperate for more cash. Likely, they once again could not find the money through VC and this time were not able to get another bank loan. Their only option at that point would be to sell or close. Pretty much confirming that line of thinking, in an email from Pebble this morning it states that they “can no longer operate as an independent entity.” This is all pretty astounding for a company that turned down a purchase offer from Citizen for $740 million in early 2015 (not even 2 years ago). Recognizing the immediate need to sell, Pebble most likely could not find a purchaser willing to acquire all assets including debt, therefore the only sound business decision left was to shut down (business school 101: shutting down is always a viable option). Details are emerging on what assets Fitbit is purchasing and what Pebble’s closure means for customers and employees.
Continue reading
Over the past week, Fitbit’s (FIT) stock has lost over 30% of it’s value. The plunge happened at the end of last week after the fitness tracker company missed earnings estimates and tempered expectations for the Holidays. In the days since, shares of Fitbit have been unable to bounce back. While only missing estimated revenue by $3 Million, year-over-year income fell by almost 43%. This is despite introducing new models and aligning with both Kohl’s and Vera Wang. Even worse, for the vital Holiday quarter Fitbit is projecting revenue of $725 Million to $750 Million versus expectations of $925 Million. So what exactly is happening with Fitbit and what does this mean for the larger wearable market?
Continue reading
UPDATED: According to ZDNet, Microsoft has sold through their remaining Band 2 inventory and has removed it from their online store. Also, the company has taken down the development kit for the Microsoft Band. We would expect the info page about the wearable to follow suit and soon be removed from the Microsoft website. While we knew Microsoft didn’t have a lot of faith left towards their activity tracker, it is surprising that the company planned to completely discontinue selling the Band when they just rebranded their health app from the generic “Microsoft Health” to the very product specific “Microsoft Band.”
Microsoft has reportedly ceased development of a third generation of its Microsoft Band. According to ZDNet, a few weeks ago the company disbanded a team working to port the Windows 10 platform to the wearable. Currently, versions 1 and 2 of the Microsoft Band run custom firmware. The move isn’t entirely surprising as Microsoft struggles to find an audience for Windows Mobile devices. In fact, MSPoweruser.com is reporting that Microsoft is pulling Windows Phones from company stores and WinBeta cites an anonymous employee as stating that the Lumia line of phones will be killed off by the end of the year. Since the Microsoft Band is designed primarily to interact with a Windows Mobile phone (non-Windows platforms are limited to a restricted feature set), with its ecosystem dwindling there is little logic in continuing to invest in Microsoft Band development. The software giant will continue to sell the Microsoft Band 2 at a discounted price of $175. Microsoft Health, the cross-platform cloud based health and fitness hub that the Band was designed to interact with, will continue to exist and, in fact, Microsoft is continuing to emphasize the service. But in a bizarre move the app has been renamed “Microsoft Band.”
Continue reading
Earlier this month McDonald’s launched a fitness tracking wearable. Included in Happy Meals, the wrist-worn STEP-iT was a great step forward in providing kids with the data they need to try to be healthier and more active. The plan was for almost 30 million kids to have access to the activity tracker. Even though it was just a glorified cheap plastic pedometer (that rattled all the time), it was an honorable plan to provide kids with technology they might not otherwise have. Unfortunately, like so many other fitness trackers, users have been reporting skin irritation and, worse, burns. McDonald’s has issued an immediate recall of all units and will no longer offer the wearable in-store. Reports of the issue started coming in a few days ago and the fast food icon began to quietly pull TV ads and remove mention of the tracker in-store. If your kid has a STEP-iT, McDonald’s is encouraging you to stop using it immediately and you can bring it in to the restaurant to trade for another toy.
Most of the time these types of recalls are due to skin reacting to chemicals in the band. With the STEP-iT, the issue is reported to be related to the 2 red LEDs on the back of the device. Of course these LEDs serve absolutely no purpose, which has to make this recall very frustrating for McDonalds.
Continue reading
Jawbone, one of the first companies to market a wearable, app-connected fitness tracker, looks to be exiting the consumer wearables market. Tech Insider reports that Jawbone has ceased all production of their fitness trackers and has sold the remaining inventory to a 3rd party. The move isn’t completely surprising as activity trackers appear to be waining in populating while simultaneously in a price race to the bottom. Last November Jawbone closed their NY office and laid off 15% of the company’s workforce. Originally introduced in 2011, the Jawbone UP was a first of its kind device. Heralded as introducing a revolutionary new way to lose weight and get fit, the UP synced with a dedicated app on your smartphone by connecting through the headphone port. It measured steps, distance, calories, overall activity, and sleep. The wearable was screen-less and designed to look like a small bracelet. The 2011 launch was a bit rough, with widespread claims that it didn’t track correctly, didn’t sync reliably, and had charging issues. Jawbone stopped production later that year, offering to buy back any of the devices, and completely redesigned the internals of the UP. It relaunched in late 2012 where it entered a much more competitive market, squaring off against the Nike Fuelband and Fitbit One (Fitbit’s first wrist-worn tracker launched in 2013), both of which offered superior wireless syncing.
Continue reading
Mobile World Conference in Barcelona is typically a showplace of the newest and best cell phones that companies have to offer. At the 2015 MWC though, you could have easily have thought it was a wearables trade show. Practically every company had a fitness tracker, a smartwatch, or another form of wearable technology on display. But at MWC 2016, there were barely any wearables to be found. What happened? And is this the writing on the wall, showing consumer and company interest in wearables is just not that high? Or are there other factors at hand?
Continue reading
(c) 2017 Circuits And Cable Knit
All rights reserved