{"id":2388,"date":"2016-12-07T13:36:26","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T21:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/?p=2388"},"modified":"2016-12-07T13:36:26","modified_gmt":"2016-12-07T21:36:26","slug":"oh-man-i-shot-marvin-in-the-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/?p=2388","title":{"rendered":"“oh man, I shot Marvin in the face!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first viable smartwatch is no more. Pebble, which became the one proof that maybe you could buy hardware through Kickstarter, has been officially eaten by Fitbit<\/a>, the leader (and in many ways last brand standing) in the fitness-wearable market.<\/p>\n

This is a software deal, mostly, and in its way it makes sense: Pebble has the only platform-agnostic smartwatch worth mentioning. Fitbit is the only largely-successful maker of wearable fitness devices, to the point of becoming almost Kleenex-esque; makers like Withings and Jawbone and even Nike have found their space diminished (in Nike\u2019s case, to the point of giving up and throwing in their lot with Apple). Only Fitbit seems to be having any success, much like only Apple seems to have any traction left in the \u201csmartwatch\u201d space now that even Motorola has chosen not to ship a new device to go with Android Watch 2.<\/p>\n

In the grand scheme of things, it\u2019s probably a good match. Fitbit\u2019s hardware is generally well-regarded, while the Pebble was at least an existence proof that a smartwatch could be a viable product. Combine the two and you can come up with a fitness tracker that\u2019s at least capable of more than just ringing and showing you have an incoming text, potentially. Even if Fitbit isn\u2019t interested in going much beyond the notifications, they could at least use Pebble for a richer slice of \u201cnext event and who\u2019s calling\u201d. \u00a0Given that the smartwatch market isn\u2019t going much of anywhere, a Pebbit (Fibble?) might have a longer runway than either would have separately.<\/p>\n

But ultimately, the market isn\u2019t at a point where Ed Earl Brown needs something on his wrist to tell him his phone beeped. I get good use out of my Apple Watch to prompt me to fill those three rings every day – and to use the Breathe app to try to get my heart rate down without eating more Xanax, and for the glance-ability of time and temperature and next appointment – but I\u2019ve repeatedly demonstrated that if I don\u2019t actually have it, I get by just fine with the watch I bought myself for my 40th birthday that I anticipate lasting the rest of my life. Smartwatches may just turn out to be another shibboleth for people with more money than sense.<\/p>\n

Of which.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first viable smartwatch is no more. Pebble, which became the one proof that maybe you could buy hardware through Kickstarter, has been officially eaten by Fitbit, the leader (and in many ways last brand standing) in the fitness-wearable market. This is a software deal, mostly, and in its way it makes sense: Pebble has … <\/p>\n

Continue reading ““oh man, I shot Marvin in the face!””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}