Pebble Announces New 'Pebble Time Round' Smart Watch

[Mac Fly (film)]

Guy is a millionaire from selling smart watches, and bunch of keyboard-mashers on Macrumors ridicule him. Personally I admire what he achieved via the most seccussful and second most successful Kitchstater campaigns ever. He's going to have a hard time competing in this market long term given the competition, but he can always lay claim to helping get smartwatches as a category off the ground. Let's see any one of you who ridicule him achieve half as much in your lifetime.

 

[bladerunner2000]

I wouldnt be embarrassed to have that on my wrist as a fashion accessory, it actually is a nice design... unlike the Apple Happy Meal Watch (brutally cheap looking).

 

[Quu]

It's a definite improvement design wise from the steel but I still feel that the bezels are just too large. I'd be much more likely to buy a Moto 360 v2 than this just because the display goes to the edge.

But having said that I am glad Pebble has released this, more competition in this space is great and although I wouldn't buy one it is a huge improvement over their previous design, quite an impressive improvement.

 

[peterdevries]

Guy is a millionaire from selling smart watches, and bunch of keyboard-mashers on Macrumors ridicule him. Personally I admire what he achieved via the most seccussful and second most successful Kitchstater campaigns ever. He's going to have a hard time competing in the market, long term, but he can always say him and his team helped get smartwatches as a category off the ground. Job well done.

That is correct. I think indeed there are several here ridiculing him and his company. There are ways to analyse the company and its performance without doing that.

 

[JohnApples]

Not as a response to this watch, that will not be successful.

Here is the rationale behind this statement: Pebble has a small market share, that is under attack from the large incumbents in mobile computing (Samsung, Apple, etc..you know who they are). Pebble's only differentiation is the good battery life, but it is questionable whether that will be a defining factor for many consumers that put their watch on a nightstand anyway each night. In addition consumers want options, apps and flexibility, something that Samsung and Apple are able to provide in much higher volume.

I expect Pebble's market share to shrink. They need to make a leap ahead of the rest in order to have a real sustainable competitive advantage and gain market share. I have no confidence that they will be able to do so.

Oh definitely. I know Apple doesn't feel the least bit threatened by Pebble. It's just interesting that Pebble has now jumped on the circle bandwagon.

Almost all the "big" (using that term loosely) smartwatch manufacturers now have a circular device, save for Apple. Moto, Huawei, LG, Samsung, and now Pebble. I'm just wondering if simply being circular will actually make smartwatches more appealing, and thus cause Apple to consider it.

 

[peterdevries]

more competition in this space is great

I wonder whether the others see this as serious competition. Besides battery life (that is based on a smaller and inferior screen) Pebble does not bring anything to the table that current watches cannot match.

I'm just wondering if simply being circular will actually make smartwatches more appealing, and thus cause Apple to consider it.

The thing that will convince Apple will be sales numbers and I wonder whether round watches make that big of an impact. I would welcome a round Apple watch, as the consumer obviously wants choice. I hope though that they think of a really great interface if they ever make a round one.

 

[lowendlinux]

That CEO looks really nervous and uncomfortable in that video.

Yea no kidding I think he should have found someone else to be in front of the camera

Anyone objective can recognize this as the desperate death throes of an amateur enterprise that got overwhelmed by market forces. It reminds one of Palm and its successor near the end.

Or perhaps it's a company adhering to a business plan.

These idiots should have sold the company to someone big. There is no way for them to compete with the likes of samsung, motorola, and apple. They will exhaust all their resources trying to compete and in the end just make a vastly inferior product.

Why can't they fill a niche not everyone want's to be a super uber-billionaire

===

I think if smart watches are you thing this one seems pretty cool

 

[nfl46]

$250? For $50 more, you could get a second generation Moto 360. The bezel on the Pebble is horrible. Wtf.

 

[Jsameds]

Pebble rhymes with bezel.

Coincidence?

 

[ThatVeganGuy]

In my opinion, it looks like poo with a band attached...

 

[tkermit]

I wonder whether the others see this as serious competition. Besides battery life (that is based on a smaller and inferior screen) Pebble does not bring anything to the table that current watches cannot match.

I don't think that's true. For instance, you can peek at a Pebble Watch without rotating your wrist or raising your arm. With the Apple Watch you'd be looking at a solid black surface.

 

[vreedy76]

The more I wear my Apple Watch, the better I understand it's rectangular shape. Sure, it' reads easier, but the design enhances the shape of our arms. The wrist is round, but the arm is long (rectangular) and flat which is why a rectangular watch looks much nicer on someone who wears short sleeve shirts - sure, the round is nice and it's a personal choice in the end, but the rectangular matches our body shape. Pebble looks like a toy and there is nothing professional or flattering about it. Usefulness; perhaps so.. but style is usefulness is why apple is selling so many watches.

I would have to say round matches most Americans lol

 

[3square]

Ya, what's up with that. Why wouldn't you have the display go to the edges?

because it's would be too difficult to do so.

 

[bobob]

Ya, what's up with that. Why wouldn't you have the display go to the edges?

I would bet the screen is actually square for low cost and ready supply, and that the bezel is just a matte like in a picture frame.

 

[phpmaven]

I would bet the screen is actually square for low cost and ready supply, and that the bezel is just a matte like in a picture frame.

Good point.

 

[dnitzsche]

This is what happens when you rush product after product to try and beat apple. The e-ink screen isn't cute anymore.

 

[peterdevries]

I don't think that's true. For instance, you can peek at a Pebble Watch without rotating your wrist or raising your arm. With the Apple Watch you'd be looking at a solid black surface.

Now that I would call a feature gap, that could easily be closed by Apple through a software update or anyone else for that matter. And I'm pretty sure the Apple watch already turns on when you rotate your arm.

Real competition would be something like Pebble introducing a full color LCD screen with a battery life that equals its current screen.

 

[christopher3071]

I have had nothing but problems with my Pebble. I am now on my third watch. The first two have been RMA'd. I have two dead pebbles in my drawer and yesterday my third one bricked itself. It's true that their customer support has gotten better. But when the replacement units they mail you still have the same issues as the unit they RMAed, something is critically wrong. It was just last night when I was thinking "I wish I just bought an Apple watch."

 

[applegeek97]

Pebble must be struggling

 

[btrach144]

Still not as attractive looking as the Apple Watch. Pebble just can't seem to find their place.

 

[Rogifan]

I see a lot of people complaining about the bezel, but you can get a model that has numbers on the bezel. With an analogue watch face, I think that would look pretty cool, like a real watch.

Then why not just get an analog watch? I mean how cool will it look when the display is showing anything but the time?

 

[Surf Donkey]

Apple consumers knocking a product for bezels. Interesting.

 

[cjc2104]

Nice looking device. I'm a big watch collector and definitely prefer a round face. I only have one square/rectangle face watch, which is a Tag Monaco. For a smart watch though having a square face just makes more sense. I don't see this being any threat to the Apple Watch at all and to be honest Pebble will probably be bought out by some tech company in the next year or two as sales stagnate and decrease... They aren't quite in the luxury space nor in the athletic/fitness gear space, they really don't have an identity IMO

 

[Shlooky]

I'm not liking the Pebble at all, it look like a cheap knockoff of a cheap watch.

 

[BSG75]

With their current e-paper resolution, I think they have no choice but to make the bezel that big. If the screen were larger, the current resolution would suffer. I have a Pebble Steel and it can be a nice looking watch, IMO, especially when its set to an analog watch face.