When it comes to competition, Pebble has plenty to be concerned about. In an interview onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013, founder Eric Migicovsky seemed unconcerned about questions on competition from Apple and Samsung, claiming that Motorola and Sony have offered smartwatch products for quite some time.
However, speaking backstage, Migicovsky went a bit more in-depth with the latest products from Samsung and the idea of a forthcoming Apple iWatch, stating that Pebble would be pretty uninterested in the idea of an acquisition by the competition, should it be offered.
“In the Samsung Galaxy Gear presentation on stage, Samsung was really heavy on features for the watch but skirted how people actually use it every day,” said Migicovsky. “I use my watch on a daily basis, looking at upcoming weather forecast, with an app for Evernote, and an app on the phone to customize the watch with drag-and-drop functions that auto syncs to the watch.”
According to Migicovsky, Pebble is fortunate to have been working on wearable computing for years in the background, constantly iterating, as wearables heat up in general.
“We’re in a great position because we get to figure out what works first,” said Migicovsky.
That said, Migicovsky didn’t seem interested in the idea of an acquisition. For the record, Migicovsky claims that Pebble has never had an acquisition offer by Samsung or Apple or anyone else for that matter, but hypothetically speaking, it’s not something that piques his interest.
“We’re staying laser focused on the task of creating a platform that people can build on top of to communicate with wearables, and we won’t do anything that causes a distraction from that goal.”
But that doesn’t mean that there’s no new hardware in the pipeline. For now, Pebble is working on building the ecosystem around the product, like the companies building special bands or the developers building apps. Eventually, though, Migicovsky hinted that Pebble is looking at the other materials people wear on their wrists, perhaps hinting at a luxury model down the road.
After all, the Pebble is a sports watch.
