Pebble smartwatch breaks $1 million barrier in 28 hours
Source: Ben Kersey
The Kickstarter project for the Pebble smartwatch only began yesterday, but it hit its $100,000 goal in just two hours. The company offered 200 early buyers the watch for $99, which sold out in a matter of minutes, and their target to take the watch to manufacturing has been shattered. Not only that, but currently the project has managed to amass over $1.1 million so far, with around 8,500 people pledging money towards the project to get their hands on the smartwatch.
It’s a staggering achievement, and possibly one of the fastest growing Kickstarter projects in history. The $1 million mark was hit in around 28 hours, with potential buyers and developers interested in the watch after it starting receiving wide media coverage yesterday. The watch has turned heads not only due to its iOS and Android support, but also low price, and attractive propositions for developers.
The Pebble features an e-paper display for improved visibility in direct sunlight, has a built-in motor for vibration alerts, and an accelerometer. The software on the watch can be customized with different watch faces, and the creators are planning to create an ecosystem around the device. They’ve already partnered with Freecaddie in order to provide information on over 25,000 golf courses, tapping into smartphone GPS data. The company say that developers will be able to create their own apps with the provided SDK and upload them to the Pebble phone app.
The project still has 36 days to go until orders close, so there’s still plenty of time to get in on the opportunity if you’re on the fence. While you’ll have to fork over some money now, manufacturing won’t begin for a couple of months, with orders being delivered in September at the very earliest.
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