Former Pebble CEO reveals plan for a new smartwatch thanks to Google making PebbleOS open source

Many people still remember Pebble smartwatches, which had features such as an e-paper display, multi-day battery life, and a lightweight OS called PebbleOS. They were insanely popular, considering the company's second smartwatch, the Pebble Time, still holds the record of the second most-funded Kickstarter product ever. Sadly, due to poor sales and a string of bad decisions, which the CEO, Eric Migicovsky, detailed in a blog post, the company was sold in 2016 to Fitbit, which is now owned by Google.

There haven't been any new Pebble watches since the Pebble 2 released in 2016, but thanks to the former CEO's doggedness, there will be a new watch inspired by previous Pebble watches, although it likely won't carry the Pebble brand name as that is still owned by Google.

According to a post on his blog, Eric Migicovsky, has revealed that he is starting a new company that will make a Pebble-like smartwatch. This new smartwatch will run PebbleOS, which Google has now made open source and uploaded on GitHub. So Google does deserve some praise, too.

The new watch doesn't have a name yet but it will have the same specs and features as the first Pebble but with some new fun stuff as well. It will run on the open source PebbleOS and will be compatible with all Pebble apps and watch faces.

Eric says he has learnt from past mistakes and that the new company will be a small narrowly-focused one with no plans to raise funds from investors or to hire a big team. The plan is to create a sustainable company that keeps making cool gadgets and keeps Pebble going long into the future.

There's no info yet on when this new Pebble-like smartwatch will be released but fans of the original Pebble watches are excited for new hardware with the beloved software experience. However, considering that the operating system is now open source, we won't be surprised to see another manufacturer beat Eric's own company to the market with a new Pebble-like product.

Also, the fact that the OS is now open source means those who own Pebble watches can still get software support that brings new features and improves the watches.