The Pebble smartwatch has quickly become the biggest Kickstarter project to date, racking up over $10 million in backings. This "e-paper" watch which interfaces with your iPhone or Android device is set to begin shipping to backers this fall — follow along with the the story of its funding and any future product developments right here.
Mar 20, 2014
Pebble has sold over 400,000 smartwatches
Android Wear may be dominating smartwatch news at the moment, but Pebble isn't letting Google take all the thunder. The company has revealed that it's sold a total of 400,000 watches since it started fulfilling the first of its 85,000 Kickstarter pre-orders. CEO Eric Migicovsky revealed the number to CNN Money in a recent interview, and a representative tells The Verge that the number includes its original 85,000 Kickstarter pre-orders and sales of its critically acclaimed Pebble Steel smartwatch. It's an impressive statistic for the company the started as a Kickstarter sensation. But the company made a name for itself with one of the first attractive, simple-to-use smartwatches around. Now that Google has thrown its weight behind its own smartwatch effort, it'll be up to Pebble to hold onto its head start.
Read Article >Update: This article has been modified with additional details on the 400,000 figure from a Pebble representative.
Dec 13, 2013
Pebble update finally adds Do Not Disturb mode and improved alarms
Pebble has released a software update that dramatically improves the smartwatch's alarm clock functionality and adds a much-requested feature. Firmware version 1.14 finally includes a Do Not Disturb setting similar to the one Apple introduced with iOS 6; it lets users specify a period of time where the watch won't receive notifications so as to prevent unwanted disruption.
Read Article >Pebble owners are also now able to set multiple alarms and toggle them on or off, and there's a new snooze mode. Notification control has gotten a little more granular, too, with the ability to switch all alerts off while keeping phone calls enabled. Although the update sounds minor, it removes a couple of serious annoyances that sometimes made using the Pebble a lot more frustrating than it had to be.
Nov 29, 2013
The Verge at work: using the Pebble smartwatch to never miss a thing
The Verge at Work is a series about process. We’re not scientists, and we’re not gurus, we’re just trying to get some work done. The solutions presented here are highly personal, and highly personalized. Not the only way, but our way.
Read Article >Stay focused. Attention is the new currency. We’re told over and over to minimize our digital distractions, that it’s the only way to get anything done. But what if instead of constantly fighting them, we could find a way to come to peace with the rising tide of notifications for texts, emails, weather, Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook, Snapchat, and countless other services? There are some options on your desktop, but on your phone you’re distracted no matter what the type of notification is.
Nov 29, 2013
Pebble arrives on Amazon for $148.99, sees $20 Black Friday discount on own website
After making its retail debut earlier this year, the Pebble smartwatch is coming to Amazon. The company made the announcement last night, and the watch is now available for US buyers in black, gray, orange, red, and white for $148.99, its arrival coinciding with the effective start of the holiday shopping season. It's been a little over a year and a half since the Pebble's Kickstarter campaign launched in April of 2012, and nearly five months since it started shipping at Best Buy in July; it's also being sold through AT&T. Around retail launch, the company said it had taken 275,000 total orders for the Pebble, and in early November, it announced that 190,000 had been successfully shipped.
Read Article >Update: Pebble's first foray into the Black Friday madness, and a reason to buy the device directly from the company itself, is a $20 discount just for today, making it $130.
Nov 6, 2013
Pebble adds iOS 7 Notification Center support, partners with Foursquare and Yelp
Starting today, Pebble natively supports iOS 7's Notification Center — after a firmware update for the watch, every iOS notification should just work. The company has just announced SDK 2.0, which adds key features and fixes to make app development easier. And if you need a vote of confidence that the platform still has potential, talk to Foursquare, GoPro, iControl, and Yelp. Each is partnering with Pebble to develop high-profile apps of their own.
Read Article >Oct 17, 2013
Fragments of time: the wild, messy state of smartwatches
As Samsung's Galaxy Gear commercial illustrates, the desire for a truly smart wrist-worn device is as old as the electronics industry itself. We've lusted after smart watches for so long that we've melded the two words into one utopian noun: a smartwatch. 2013 has been an undeniably good year for smartwatch enthusiasts. From the successful Kickstarter project that gave birth to the Pebble to Samsung and Sony's most sincere efforts to commercialize the category, the buyer's choice has never been wider. And that trend's only set to continue, with Nokia, Google, Apple, and Microsoft all actively eyeing the wearable device category.
Read Article >Even as we keep advancing toward the end goal, however, much progress remains to be made. Prices are still too high for most consumers, functionality and battery life are too limited, and designs are a little bit too large and macho to be appealing to a truly wide audience. As Ian Drew, now executive VP at ARM and formerly a senior manager at Intel, told The Verge recently, smartwatches are still in the pre-iPod era of their development. That’s not to say that the tech industry is just waiting for Apple to show the way, but the definitive, trend-setting device that everyone tries to either beat or emulate simply hasn’t materialized yet. While we wait for someone, anyone, to deliver the ultimate smartwatch, what can the best devices available today tell us about perfecting the smart wrist-accessory?
Jul 11, 2013
Pebble touts over 275,000 total orders and more than one million app downloads
The smartwatch craze shows no signs of abating, and there's little doubt that Pebble was one of the first companies to really push the concept into the mainstream over the last year or so. We already knew that the company took in a total of 85,000 orders through Kickstarter, and now it has confirmed that it has taken pre-orders for more than 190,000 additional watches. That's a total of more than 275,000 Pebble orders to date, a number that should increase now that the watch is available at Best Buy.
Read Article >Pebble also took a moment to address shipping concerns, a problem that has plagued the smartwatch ever since it became clear that the device would be far more popular than its creators anticipated. Specifically, the company noted that its expansion into Best Buy represented only a small percentage of the watches the company is manufacturing and that it shouldn't affect either those still waiting for Kickstarter orders or pre-orders through the company's website. If you're one of those still waiting for your order, Pebble has plenty.
Jul 2, 2013
Pebble smartwatch makes retail debut, now shipping from Best Buy
The Pebble smartwatch's claim to fame is its record-breaking Kickstarter campaign — 85,000 units sold and over $10 million collected — but the device is also known for being incredibly difficult to purchase thanks to months-long pre-order lists and missed ship dates. That's about to change, however: the company is ready to start selling watches directly through traditional retail channels now that most Pebbles have shipped to backers. Starting today, Best Buy will start selling Pebble smartwatches online for $149.99, and they'll be available in stores starting Sunday, July 7th thanks to an "exclusive retail launch partnership."
Read Article >By offering the watches through retail before fulfilling all Kickstarter orders, Pebble may face the wrath of disillusioned backers who see the move as a type of betrayal — a fate Ouya was unable to avoid when it started selling through retailers. However, only black versions of the Pebble will be available at Best Buy to start with, and all original backers who ordered that color have already received their orders. The company is still working to get orange, gray, and white versions out to backers, but it's long offered those customers the option to get a black Pebble instead. If you're looking to get a Pebble in either of those three colors you'll need to still hold a spot in the pre-order list online, though the red version will be sold through Best Buy beginning in August.
May 16, 2013
Pebble smartwatch apps are finally smart, can now talk to iOS and Android apps
Apps for the Pebble smartwatch are about to get a whole lot smarter. Today the company is releasing a new developer toolkit that will allow Pebble apps to fully communicate with a paired iOS or Android app. Until now, existing apps have been limited to the watch's basic functions, but this won't be the case going forward. If a developer builds a phone app and a complementary watch app, the watch can be used to control the phone, display detailed information pushed from the phone, and even launch a specific watch app when a notification comes through. Unfortunately, no major apps are launching today with support for the new features, so Pebble owners will still have to wait for developers to build something that takes advantage of them.
Read Article >Pebble is also releasing a special, streamlined version of the toolkit for fitness apps, which the company tells us should make it really simple for developers to enable watch support. The fitness toolkit can be used to display a runner's pace, mileage, and time on the watch — it's exactly what the RunKeeper app has been using thanks to an early look at the feature, and the hope is that every user's favorite running app will eventually talk to the Pebble.
May 7, 2013
RunKeeper updated with support for Pebble smartwatch
The popular RunKeeper fitness app on iOS and Android is finally getting the support for the Pebble smartwatch the two companies promised almost exactly one year ago. With the update, Pebble owners will be able to see their pace and mileage on their watch face, along with the ability to start or stop a workout. Unfortunately, you'll still need to pull out your phone to get things started — launching the app on your phone automatically launches a companion app on the Pebble, at which point the two begin communicating with each other.
Read Article >It's a nice extension for both Pebble and RunKeeper, but it's tightly-focused to RunKeeper's core mission as an app —RunKeeper is primarily thought of as an exercise tracker, not a more generalized health monitor. Similarly, either because of limitations in the Pebble or in the iOS and Android app APIs, this pairing won't let you replace your Fitbit or Fuelband with a Pebble. It's simply not tracking your every step because neither the watch nor the app are always reading your movements like other "wearables."
Apr 16, 2013
Play 'Tetris' on your Pebble smartwatch thanks to new SDK
Read Article >The team behind the Pebble smartwatch released a "proof-of-concept" SDK last week, letting developers create their own watch faces and rudimentary apps. A few are already available on the Pebble forums, but the most impressive so far is a surprisingly playable version of Tetris. Once you get your head around pressing down to move right and up to move left, it's almost like you have a miniature Game Boy with a slightly better screen on your wrist. Installing Pebblis is a simple matter of clicking a download link on your phone, at least if you're using your Pebble with an Android device — iPhone owners will need to wait for an official app update, however, or try a direct Bluetooth workaround.
Jan 28, 2013
Pebble smartwatch review
The Pebble smartwatch is a lot more than just a watch — it’s the latest attempt to turn your wrist into the launchpad for a wearable computing revolution. It’s also the preeminent symbol of the Kickstarter hardware revolution. After 85,000 orders, 10 million crowdfunded dollars, and one or two slipped ship dates, the Pebble is finally here, ready to pipe emails and texts directly to your wrist.
So is the Pebble a gimmick or the start of a bold new platform? Has an indie hardware startup managed to produce the first smartwatch for regular people, or is this just another toy for nerds to eventually discard like almost every other smartwatch before it? What did our 10 million dollars actually buy us? Let’s find out.Read Article >After using the Pebble for a few days, I realized that I was daydreaming about it: I wanted it to do more. That’s unusual — I rarely trust new products to work correctly, especially new products from unproven companies. But the Pebble’s charming simplicity and fundamental competence inspires confidence. It’s so good at what it does now that it’s easy to imagine all other things it might do in the future. There’s no reason it can’t replace a Fitbit or Nike Fuelband, for example, and I’d love to be able to send replies to emails and text directly from the device. And Pebble’s promised app support means we’ll eventually see even more uses for it.
At $150, the Pebble isn’t cheap, and it’s definitely not yet a must-have device. But it’s close — if the Pebble team can deliver on the rest of their promises, they’ll have created the first mainstream wearable computing platform. And even if they don’t, the Pebble as it exists right now will make a lot of people very happy.Jan 23, 2013
First Pebble shipments begin as company warns of iOS app delay
The Pebble smartwatch is finally shipping. It's been a long journey to this point, but despite some lingering "kinks and issues" that will be ironed out soon, the company is today dispatching the first wave of watches to its earliest Kickstarter backers — so long as you ordered the black one, at least. Unfortunately the total number of shipments is lower than Pebble first anticipated; less than 500 watches are going out today. Why the small figure? As it races to move outbound units to its fulfillment center, Pebble says the process has been "held up by documentation at the airport."
Read Article >There's also a bit of bad news for iPhone users. It seems the Pebble iOS app won't be available for download as these initial shipments arrive. "We submitted 2 weeks ago and have been responding to reviewer feedback," reads an update on Kickstarter posted today. To be clear, you'll still have access to all of Pebble's core functionality like notification alerts and music controls. But you won't be able to install new watchfaces or firmware updates until Apple gives Pebble the stamp of approval. The Android app will be available in Google Play as planned tomorrow.
Jan 9, 2013
The Pebble smartwatch keeps it simple (hands-on)
Now that Pebble has announced it's shipping to Kickstarter backers on January 23rd, the company is finally ready to show off the final hardware and software on its smartwatch. We spent some time putting the watch through its paces and talking with CEO Eric Migicovsky, and we've come away more impressed than we expected with the Kickstarter phenomenon.
Read Article >Smartwatches are a big theme theme here at CES, but few have garnered the kind of interest that the Pebble has. One reason is that it is simple and straightforward: watchfaces, notifications, and music control are the headline features with only a few other odds and ends thrown in on the side. The other reason is that it simply looks great — nobody wants a monstrosity strapped to their wrist, no matter how functional.
Jan 9, 2013
Pebble smartwatch finally shipping January 23rd, we talk to CEO about its future
The Pebble smartwatch is best-known for being a smash hit on Kickstarter. It broke records and leapt to a total of 85,000 orders by the time the campaign ended. The only thing left to do was ship, but unfortunately the company quietly announced a pair of delays that left an actual ship date in limbo — an unfortunately common problem with Kickstarter campaigns.
Read Article >Today at CES, CEO Eric Migicovsky announced that the company now has a firm shipping date for its backers: January 23rd. It will go out in batches, Migicovsky tells us, and it only recently ramped up to full production at its factory in China, producing around 15,000 of the watches each week.
Jan 9, 2013
Watch This: Pebble's 'big news' smartwatch announcement at 9AM PT / 12PM ET
Pebble is one of Kickstarter's biggest success stories, raising more than $10 million from 85,000 backers excited about a watch that connects to your phone and provides apps, features, and notifications. But since it hit its funding goal, the Pebble's been riddled with delays, especially as the company has tried to ramp up production.
Read Article >Now Pebble has "big news." The company's been teasing an announcement at CES, saying "it's time" — time for the Pebble to ship, maybe? Time for more delays? Time for us to finally toss out our dumbwatches in favor of something a little smarter? We're not sure, but Pebble's streaming the event live this morning from Vegas starting at 9AM — we'll be there, fingers crossed.
Jan 3, 2013
Pebble promises 'big news' at CES on January 9th
Read Article >Pebble, the massively successful smartwatch Kickstarter project, will make an announcement at CES. The invitation, seen above, tells backers that "it's time" and invites them to watch a livestream of the event on Pebble's site at 12pm ET on January 9th. Though all we're promised is "big news," the invitation hints at a possible product launch — something that's a bit overdue for Pebble. The watches were originally set to ship in September of 2012, but the challenge of producing enough for over 85,000 pre-orders (compared to an original planned run of 1,000) pushed that date back. Though Pebble hasn't given a timetable for shipment, it's previously said it's keeping to an "aggressive" production schedule, and CES provides both a major event to launch at and an opportunity to show it's keeping to that timetable.
Dec 7, 2012
Pebble smartwatch won't ship in time for the holidays, no new timetable given
Read Article >The Pebble smartwatch, one of the most-watched Kickstarter campaigns ever, has unfortunately hit another roadblock. The team behind Pebble just sent an email update out to its backers letting them know the device would not ship before the holidays. Originally slated to ship back in September, the company announced in late July that it would miss that timeframe, but hoped to ship closely to the original estimates. Obviously, with 2012 nearly over and no solid shipping date in sight, Pebble won't be able to meet that goal. Such are the perils of backing a Kickstarter project — the only official word on when this highly-anticipated product will start shipping is "soon."
Aug 14, 2012
Pebble smartwatch user interface demoed in preview video
In a video posted on the Pebble project's Kickstarter page, designer Martijn Thé has offered a sneak preview of the connected watch's user interface. Linking up with an iPhone or Android device via Bluetooth, the Pebble offers a simple e-paper screen which can be used to read emails, view phone calls, play music, and, of course, check the time — Thé's designs keep the experience clean and relatively uncomplicated, focusing on a simple set of vertical scrolling and horizontal swiping movements.
Read Article >To test out new concepts, Thé has a two-pronged strategy, working alternately with an emulator on an iPhone, as shown in the picture above, or with a prototype logic board connected to his laptop. While the software for the watch appears to be almost complete, the Pebble team has run into a few problems with the hardware, missing its original September shipping date due to scaling issues. But in the latest Kickstarter update, founder Eric Migicovsky reassures backers — who have pledged more than $10 million — that "we're working hard to complete the interconnected tasks that make up the production process."
Jul 25, 2012
Pebble smartwatch to miss original September shipping estimate
The folks behind the Pebble smartwatch have been providing detailed, regular updates on their progress on Kickstarter every few weeks. The latest reveals that the color option which will be available to backers who joined at the $125 level will be a glossy orange finish. That positive (for some, anyway) detail was leavened with a slightly disappointing one: the company won't make its original September shipping estimate.
Read Article >Currently, the Pebble is in the "Engineering Verification" phase, which means that individual components are getting tested as you read this. You can see images of the various pieces that will make up the final watches on Pebble's Kickstarter page.
Jun 29, 2012
Pebble releases Android preview SDK for e-paper smartwatch
Read Article >Kickstarter poster child Pebble was on hand at Google I/O this week — and while the smartwatch wasn't fully functional, a preview SDK for Android was made available, giving developers an early look at how the device and its e-paper display interacts with the operating system's intent messaging service. The information in the software development kit is still in its early stages and changes will likely happen before the actual product ships out this fall. If you're looking to get a head start on the most successful Kickstarter project to date, you can sign up to be on the official developer mailing list at the SDK's site.
May 11, 2012
Twine sensor now connects to Pebble watch, sends alerts to your wrist
Read Article >In a fun bit of Kickstarter synergy, the makers of Twine — a small square that adds sensors and enables alerts on just about anything — announced today that Twine will now integrate with the Pebble Smartwatch, allowing you to receive all kinds of alerts on your wrist. The Wi-Fi-enabled Twine box can be used to monitor for motion, temperature, and more, and whenever it's tripped will send an alert via text, email, or Twitter. Now, it'll also send the alert to your Pebble watch — assuming you've reserved one of the 85,000 the company sold during its own Kickstarter campaign. Our minds are already spinning with the possibilities for immediate alerts, but we're mostly just excited to always know when the UPS guy knocks with a package.
May 10, 2012
Pebble smartwatch sells out: $10 million raised and over 85,000 sold
Would-be Pebble early adopters are officially too late. Shortly after announcing that they would be capping orders at 85,000 units, the team reached its goal and has closed down orders for the e-paper smartwatch. There are still eight days to go on the Kickstarter project, but the only available pledge is $1, which will get you "exclusive updates, Pebble availability, or more." The Pebble team, meanwhile, has around five months to build and ship a total of 85,420 watches with a growing list of features, including waterproofing, fitness tracking, and Bluetooth 4.0. Fortunately, they've got over $10 million to play with, or about $117 per watch.
Read Article >For those of us who missed out on the Kickstarter, Pebble will be taking orders "eventually" for its first retail sales. According to the team's latest post, they'll retail for $150, a bit more than the $115 or $125 they sold for on Kickstarter, and they'll ship well after the Kickstarter orders. You can check out the Pebble site here or read the Reddit AMA for more details.
May 9, 2012
Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky hosts Reddit AMA to talk about the biggest Kickstarter to date
There's now nine days and counting until the Pebble smartwatch gets its funding on Kickstarter, and it's still raking in cash at a rapid rate (nearly $10 million in backings as of today). With the production phase soon to begin, Pebble creator Eric Migicovsky hosted an AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit yesterday to answer all of the burning questions around behing the biggest Kickstarter project ever. From a hardware perspective, Migicovsky was firm on saying the Pebble's design was finalized and there wouldn't be any changes like a color eink screen forthcoming — his group of 10 employees is now focused squarely on getting the software ready to go. As for the decision to not use a touchscreen, Migicovsky said that he "didn't like the idea of obscuring our relatively tiny screen with my fat fingers."
Read Article >The software as much as hardware will make Pebble successful, and Migicovsky said that Pebble's open SDK will be the "key" to future-proofing the smartwatch — "developers will be able to write apps that continually improve your Pebble!" There's a lot to be done between now and the SDK's release in August, and Migicovsky admitted there were still many changes or additions that could take place. One commenter suggested adding Siri or Android Voice control activation via the Pebble, to which Migicovsky replied, "haven't thought about this, but we'll look into it!" As for greater overall Android compatibility, Pebble is "pledging support" for Android 2.3 and up; Migicovsky noted that "Google has done an excellent job with 4.0 by recommending a standard Bluetooth stack." As for the third major smartphone OS, Migicovsky said there were "no plans" to support Windows Phone because it "does not include any Bluetooth SPP APIs" — but he'd be open to support if those APIs were available. Unfortunately, there's no planned support for the iPad either at the moment.
May 8, 2012
Pebble smartwatch hardware upgraded to Bluetooth 4.0, will be enabled via software update
There's only 10 days left to back the Pebble smartwatch, currently the hottest Kickstarter project to date by a wide margin. Pebble's not resting though — the watch will now include Bluetooth 4.0 onboard, though Pebble's quick to note that it "probably" won't be enabled right off the bat. Instead, Bluetooth 4.0 will get turned on via a software update that'll come later. Pebble's also noting that even though Bluetooth 4.0 has "low energy" features, it likely won't affect the performance of the watch — it's being added mostly as a way to future-proof the watch and support wireless sensors like heart-rate and cadence, mostly for bikers. While this won't mean a different experience out-of-the-box for backers, the upgrade isn't going to affect shipping times at all, and Pebble had planned this all along. We won't complain about a Pebble with that supports more connectivity down the line.
Read Article >With the Kickstarter project nearly ready to close, it's worth looking back at some of the numbers behind the campaign. Overall, the project has racked up over $9 million — pretty crazy when you realize that this project could triple the previous record of about $3.4 million when all is said and done. On a per-watch basis, this breaks down to $119.20 per device, with Pebble on the hook to produce at least 76,105 watches to meet the demand. We'll see how different these numbers look 10 days from now when the campaigns wraps up.