Despite being one of the first companies to bring the concept of the smartwatch to the general public, Pebble isn’t immune to a lack of funds. Such is the case for them as Pebble is announcing that they will be laying off 25% of its staff.
According to Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky, the company’s need to layoff roughly 40 employees was due to a chilly fundraising encironment in Silicon Valley. “We’ve definitely been careful this year as we plan our products. We got this money, but money is pretty tight these days,” says Migicovsky. “We want to be careful. Pebble is in this for the long haul. We have a vision where wearables will take us in five to 10 years, and this is setting us up for success,” adds Migicovsky.
For the next Pebble product, Migicovsky has said that the company intends to focus on the health and fitness aspects of the wearables. He also announced that Pebble products will began selling in India via Amazon next month.
Pebble’s layoff occured at a time where the wearable technology market is undergoing some instabilities. For example, Fit has seen its stock fall dramatically in recent months. Just recently, Apple has dropped the price of the Apple Watch to USD 299, a traditional sign of underperforming sales. Only time will tell if Pebble is able to continue normal operations without needing further cuts.
Source: Tech Insider
