Pebble becomes a real pedometer with new Misfit app
The smartwatch that charmed with its simplicity is starting to smarten up — Looking to preempt Google's big Android Wear unveiling, Pebble is today announcing a new partnership with wearable maker Misfit that will turn its smartwatch into a pedometer.
Context & Ripple Effects
Pebble built its reputation on restraint — the 2013 smartwatch review treated it as a well-executed notification device, not a fitness computer. The Misfit partnership announced today is Pebble's answer to the obvious gap: step counting arrives via a third-party app, timed explicitly to preempt Google's major Android Wear unveiling.
The story traveled unusually far for a single app announcement — Pebble itself, Re/code, Engadget, the Wall Street Journal, ZDNet, Liliputing, The Next Web, and AppleInsider all carried it within a day — which reflects how contested the smartwatch narrative had become heading into Google's launch.
First-order effects
- Pebble owners can track steps immediately through Misfit's app, plugging the watch's most conspicuous feature gap without any new Pebble hardware.
- Pebble buys itself the news cycle going into Google's Android Wear unveiling, framing the category around apps and battery-friendly simplicity rather than waiting for Google to define it.
Second-order effects
- Misfit gains distribution across Pebble's installed base without shipping a device of its own, a template other wearable makers can copy by opening their tracking software to third-party watches.
- Fitness-band makers whose value rests on step and sleep data face pressure to expose their metrics on watches like Pebble, since a $150 smartwatch plus a free app undercuts a dedicated band purchase.
Third-order effects
- If activity tracking becomes expected smartwatch behavior, every watchmaker faces a build-versus-partner decision on sensing software — Pebble chose partner first, and the durability of that choice depends on whether native tracking follows.
- The partnership accelerates the blur between smartwatches and fitness bands, pushing the two categories toward converging on one wrist-worn device with interchangeable software roles.
The trend: Smartwatch makers are racing to close their fitness-tracking gaps through software partnerships ahead of Google's Android Wear push, with the build-versus-partner question defining who owns the wrist's data layer.