Pebble is feeling threatened by the growing Android Wear wave

Aug 19, 2014 11:05 GMT  ·  By

Word about Pebble’s upcoming smartwatch leaked online a while ago. The latest piece of info uncovered today shows us that the company is actively working towards this very goal.

And it’s no wonder that they are doing that with Android Wear being fresh out of the oven. For the time being, there are only two smartwatches taking advantage of the operating system in the form of the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live, but the avalanche of Android Wear devices will surely intensify in the upcoming months.

That’s why Pebble wants to be able to provide a worthy competitor, so the company is taking the necessary steps.

The device maker has just signed two notable webOS designers, Itai Vonshak and Liron Damir, who worked for LG to create the interface of the webOS TV.

Vonshak will come onboard as Pebble’s new Head of Product and UX team, while Damir will be appointed Head of Design, says Wearable. The company has also signed another ex webOS team member, Henry Levak as Product Director.

For those who don’t know what webOS is, it's an operating system that was developed by Palm to replace its outdated Palm mobile OS.

The company was then purchased by HP, which made the platform open sources but they didn’t hold ownership for long. The operating system was soon sold to LG Electronics and put to work on their smart TV line.

For the time being, Pebble smartwatches don’t have the power to wow consumers like Android Wear can. That’s why the company hopes that the addition of the webOS masterminds to their team will help stir things in the right direction.

We have already seen a possible prototype of what Pebble might have in mind for their next-gen watch. We don’t have the entire specification list but one thing stands out right off the bat.

The new smartwatch might arrive with a color display. While this isn't exactly something mind-blowing, because the Qualcomm Toq watch also makes use of an E-Ink display (the so-called Mirasol display technology), it’s certainly a valid improvement from Pebble's part.

It would be interesting to see whether Pebble chooses to renounce the E-Ink display factor and opt for LCD instead, so that it has a better chance at competing with products like Samsung Gear Live or LG G Watch.

As for the user interface, we can’t tell you anything about what the company's plans in that direction, but as information surfaces, we’ll keep you posted.