Eric Migicovsky says Pebble reboot Core Devices is 'not a startup'

Eric Migicovsky, founder of Pebble, said his revived Pebble brand and new company, Core Devices, is "not a startup," speaking to TechCrunch on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. He said the team is small, there is no outside funding and inventory isn’t being manufactured before it’s sold.

Core Devices has five people, sells directly to consumers and has announced the Pebble Time 2, a round-faced Pebble Round 2, and a $75 AI smart ring called the Index 01. Migicovsky also credited PebbleOS — which Google open sourced after he requested it — as the foundation that made the reboot possible.

Migicovsky said lessons from the original Pebble shaped the new approach. He recalled that Pebble was sold to Fitbit in 2016 for around $40 million and that Fitbit was later acquired by Google for $2.1 billion. He described how excess inventory and revenue shortfalls — the company had estimated $102 million in sales but did about $82 million — led to discounted stock, strained retail relationships, layoffs and an eventual exit.

"I think I lost sight of the vision of why I was building Pebble," he said. The reboot is positioned for a narrower audience: people who want a companion to their phone rather than a phone replacement and a watch that is "more like a Swatch than a Rolex," Migicovsky said.

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Tech, Core Devices, Eric Migicovsky, Pebbleos, Consumer Electronics Show