Health and group video lucah malaysia telegramfitness wearables maker Fitbit is buying smartwatch maker Pebble, The Informationreports, citing three people familiar with the deal.
Pebble, which started out as a Kickstarter project in 2012, captured a portion of the smartwatch market early, before heavyweights such as Apple and Samsung launched their first watches. However, the company has been struggling financially, laying off a quarter of its workers in May 2016.
SEE ALSO: Pebble 2's heart rate sensor makes it an attractive fitness tracker smartwatchThe Informationdoesn't have a price for the deal, but Engadgetreports Fitbit is buying Pebble for a paltry $34 - $40 million, which is orders of magnitude lower than some previous offers Pebble has had on the table -- and refused.
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If you're a lover of Pebble watches, some of which have gotten good reviews here on Mashable, this is not good news. Fitbit is buying Pebble for its technology and IP; Pebble devices will likely be phased out post-acquisition.
After a period of incredible buzz in 2014, when Google launched Android Wear, and 2015, when Apple launched the first Watch, the hype around smartwatches has subsided considerably. Apple itself seems to be focusing on the fitness vertical with its Watch, and a recent IDC report said the smartwatch market is shrinking fast.