Pebble, one of the pioneers of the modern smartwatch era, is making a comeback – and it’s bringing its name back too. In a surprise update, Core Devices CEO and Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky revealed that the company has successfully reclaimed the Pebble trademark, allowing the brand to once again wear its iconic name.
“Great news — we’ve been able to recover the trademark for Pebble! Honestly, I wasn’t expecting this to work out so easily,” Migicovsky announced in a blog post. As a result, the company’s previously announced smartwatches, the Core 2 Duo and Core Time 2, have been renamed Pebble 2 Duo and Pebble Time 2, respectively.
Pebble’s original run came to an end in 2016, when the company was acquired by Fitbit in a US$23 million deal. Fitbit itself was later absorbed into Google, seemingly sealing the fate of the Pebble brand – until now. With the trademark back in the hands of its original creator, Migicovsky also noted that community developers are once again free to use the Pebble name for relevant software and hardware projects, in keeping with the platform’s open and collaborative legacy.
As a quick refresher, the two smartwatches were launched earlier in March. The Pebble 2 Duo features a 1.26-inch black-and-white e-paper display housed in a polycarbonate body. It supports over 10,000 legacy Pebble apps and watch faces, and includes a microphone, step and sleep tracking, IPX8-rated water resistance, and up to 30 days of battery life. It retails for US$149 (~RM660).
Meanwhile, the Pebble Time 2 is described by Migicovsky as his “dream watch”. It features a 1.5-inch colour e-paper touchscreen, a more premium metal frame, heart rate monitoring, and the same 30-day battery life and IPX8 water resistance as its sibling. This flagship model is priced at US$225 (~RM996).
(Source: Eric Migicovsky [official blog])
