Rumor: Apple Watch Causing Concern for Pebble

Old time Apple users call it “Sherlocking”. That is, a third party developer would come along with an interesting piece of software and Apple would unveil the exact same functionality baked into an update of its operating system.

Karelia Software introduced Watson in 2001. It could find out flight information, weather forecasts and track packages. While this sounds like fairly basic stuff in 2015, this was all a very big deal 14 years ago. A year later, Apple unveiled Sherlock with the introduction of OS X 10.2. It was, basically, Watson.

Fast forward to the present. Those kids who came up with Pebble were on to a pretty good thing. Smartwatches for everyone! Didn’t matter if you used Android or Apple, it would work with your smartwatch. If you had an operating system named after a dessert, could choose between Google’s own wearables and Pebble. If you had an iPhone and you wanted a wearable, Pebble was the only game in town.

The only game in town, that is, until a few weeks ago. TechCrunch is reporting that venture capital firms are turning Pebble down for additional support. The company has secured a $5 million dollar loan and another $5 million line of credit from a bank.This is despite the fact that it has $18 million in the bank.

The Apple Watch is causing concern among Pebble’s rank-and-file. Employees are reportedly not happy with the way their management’s taken on the competition from Cupertino as well as on another front from Olio Watch.

Via TechCrunch. Photo by Alex Matravers/flickr.