CanCon Podcast Ep. 46: What can Canadian entrepreneurs learn from Pebble's demise?

Pebble is dead. Last week it was announced that Fitbit would be acquiring Pebble, one of the first manufacturers to release a smartwatch, for a less-than-impressive $40 million USD. Seeing as just last year, Pebble was being offered $740 million by the watchmaker Citizen, the CanCon crew can’t help but wonder how the Canadian hardware company fell so far, so fast.

The team then turns to Patrick O’Rourke for his take on another type of wearable, the Oculus Rift with Touch. Is Oculus still the leader in the VR space? And when is VR ready for consumers?

Finally, the CanCon crew discusses the newly announced Amazon Go store in Seattle, Washington. According to the video released advertising the store, users will no longer need to go through a checkout of any kind. Instead, an app will track what you’ve picked up or put back and as you exit the store, your Amazon account will be charged. The CanCon team wants to know what this type of technology development will mean for the job market, and if tech leaders have a responsibility to consider the economic impact of their innovations.

Tune in as CanCon’s podcast crew – Erin Bury, Managing Director of 88 Creative, Patrick O’Rourke, MobileSyrup Senior Editor, and Douglas Soltys, BetaKit Editor in Chief – provides a eulogy for Pebble, and shops in the future.

Have some hot takes on the topics that were covered? Maybe you want to suggest something for a future podcast! Perhaps you have a burning question about something you read in tech news that we didn’t cover. Email us, post a comment below with the answer or question, or better yet, rate CanCon 5-stars on iTunes and post your thoughts there.

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