[NewsPoster]

One of the companies who helped bring smart watches into the mainstream is preparing to lay off approximately a quarter of its staff, in order to save itself money. Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky confirmed in an interview that the company will be letting go of 40 employees this week, and squarely blames the difficulty in raising more funds from venture capitalists as the main reason behind the reduction in the smart watch manufacturer's workforce.

"We've definitely been careful this year as we plan our products. We got this money, but money [among venture capitalists in Silicon Valley] is pretty tight these days," said Migicovsky to Tech Insider. Aside from raising $20 million in its second Kickstarter campaign for the Pebble Time, the company has also received $26 million in the last eight months from investors, as a combination of debt and venture capital.

The move to reduce the workforce may also be a sign the company is starting to struggle in the market, when faced with opposition such as the Apple Watch. In November, Migicovsky claimed Pebble had seen "no material impact from Apple entering the space" on the company's sales, instead claiming the Apple Watch brought more awareness to the market, at the time helping it sell twice the amount of smart watches year-on-year. Migicovsky declined to reveal Pebble's sales figures.

Despite losing staff, the company still has ambitions it wants to achieve for the future. Migicovsky hopes Pebble will focus more on health and fitness, something the Pebble Time started to offer in December. Pebble is also preparing to start selling its devices in a new market, with a partnership with Amazon helping it move into India next month.

[Jeronimo2000]

I can't say I'm surprised. Their current offerings might have had some appeal two years ago, but since the Apple Watch – and much improved Android Wear watches – their products are beyond uncompetitive. I tried a Pebble Time a few weeks ago, it felt like strapping a Commodore C-64 to my wrist. That blocky retro charme might speak to some, I just find it immensely... meh.

[Charles Martin]

I saw this coming when they introduced the Time 2 with a commercial that showed what seemed like HUNDREDS of people working for them. For essentially one smartwatch. At the time I thought "well they must have invited their partners to be in the video to make the company look larger." Nope.

WAY too may people for essentially one product. The Watch team at Apple is likely to be, not counting production workers, maybe as many as three dozen people. At most, and likely to be less.

[marengo]

I don't know if I could have said that I saw this coming. I purchased the first Kickstarter Pebble, and was very excited about the product category. I kept the Pebble for a couple of years and it was good. And I think the original version was a very nice looking watch, for being a plastic watch. But, I do prefer the better integrated, better app environment of Apple product. I think there is a market for smart Pebbles, but they need to be intro smart watches, where the owners are not going to be picky about disconnections with the phone, or fit and finish of a $150 or less watch. I am glad to have had the Pebble experience but I am now a happy Apple Watch owner. I wish Pebble the best always. They have made very nice smart watches. I think they have a niche.

[revco]

I use my Pebble Time Steel for three things: alarm clock, notification viewer, and to tell the time. And that's the problem. It's feature set is very limited. I would love to reply to messages but you can't with iOS. Accessing apps is cumbersome, launching apps is slow. Choice of apps is limited. It is a nice watch but I wish I could do more with it. On the plus side is the ten day battery life.