Pebble Smartwatch is Returning but With an Unexpected Love From Google

If you remember using the Pebble Smartwatch from around 2013 to 2016, then you are on a list of people who used one of the best smartwatches in terms of long-lasting battery life. Pebble Smartwatches came into existence in 2013, a brainchild of Eric Migicovsky. He launched Pebble under a successful Kickstart Project which sold over two million smartwatches. But what went wrong? The company officially announced its shutdown in 2016 and it became history.

Now a new era has begun for Pebble and it’s making a comeback in the wearable segment with Google’s magical touch. Yes, the company is finally making a comeback, and Google in its blog post wrote that it will be responsible for source code for the Pebble watch, which will allow developers to continue their development.

In an interview with Tech Crunch, the company’s CEO Eric Migicovsky mentions that regardless of selling 2 million smartwatches, the company lost its true vision. But he is ready for round two and will make it a success this time. He says, “We’re restarting Pebble.”

To recall, Pebble was sold to Fitbit eight year ago, which was then acquired by Google in 2021. Now Google holds all of Pebble’s IP and is planning to open source the brand’s software stack. As per Google, the source code will hold all the smartwatch functionality including notifications, media controls, fitness tracking, and support for custom apps and watchfaces via its entire OS. It will be built on ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers.

Google writes, “This is part of an effort from Google to help and support the volunteers who have come together to maintain functionality for Pebble watches after the original company ceased operations in 2016.”

Migicovsky says that everything is in initial stage right now and they are planning to rename the brand that can bring the Pebble to the forefront in the wearable industry. He says he has thrown himself into the project full time and everything will be paced up once the access to PebbleOS opens up.