The story of the Pebble smartwatch seems like a high tech David and Goliath saga with the giant being the most beloved company around: Apple.
While the Apple blogosphere has been buzzing for months about a potential iWatch— think a tiny iPhone you wear— the folks behind Pebble were putting their smartwatch into production, helped by investors via Kickstarter.
“Pebble is the first watch built for the twenty-first century”, according to the Kickstarter front page. “It's infinitely customizable, with beautiful downloadable watchfaces and useful internet-connected apps. Pebble connects to iPhone and Android smartphones using Bluetooth, alerting you with a silent vibration to incoming calls, emails, and messages. While designing Pebble, we strove to create a minimalist-yet-fashionable product that seamlessly blends into everyday life.”
Initial reviews are glowing and production is backlogged for the foreseeable future. The company revealed recently that they are working with app developers to provide more utility. “Apps bring Pebble to life,” the post continues. “Cyclists can use Pebble as a bike computer, accessing the GPS on your smartphone to display speed, distance, and pace data. Runners get a similar set of data displayed on their wrist. Use the music control app to play, pause or skip tracks on your phone with the touch of a button. If you're a golfer, feel free to bring Pebble onto the course. Instead of using your phone, view your current distance to the green right on your wrist.”
The apps in the works are both in-house and independent. Pebble is also allowing outside programmers to come up with unique watch faces. Many of the most popular results have been unsurprisingly nerdy, like an animated Mario, Pikachu, or Tetris.
“Pebble can change instantly, thanks to its brilliant, outdoor-readable e-paper display,” the company says. “We've designed tons of watchfaces already, with more coming every day. Choose your favorite watchfaces using Pebble's iPhone or Android app. Then, as the day progresses, effortlessly switch to the one that matches your mood, activity, or outfit."
This year could be the year of wearable technology, when computers make the leap from desk, lap and pocket onto the wrist— and perhaps beyond. The apparent popularity of the Pebble watch is a good omen for the nascent technology. It’s also good news for Apple, because it shows there is a clear market for smartwatches. If they can figure out the iWatch, smartwatches could become the smartphone of this decade.
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