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'Pebble Time' Debuts on Kickstarter With Slimmer Design and Color Display

nostaws said:
My problem is aren't they an established company now? Why do kick starter? I'd prefer kickstarter to be more for the little guys, and while pebble isn't big, they are definitely an established company. take some of your previous profits and put it to work.
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Agreed, and extending... They should have enough market intel/feel for their audience to predict sales without Kickstarter.

So this says to me, they are grasping as they know how the Apple Watch platform/Apple Ecosystem crucifies their offering and are striving to gain momentum before that happens.
 
Got one so I won't have to wear my Apple Watch out working in the yard. An inexpensive smart watch has it's uses. Once you've had texts and email on your wrist, without dragging your phone out of your pocket every time it vibrates, there's no going back...but that doesn't have to mean wearing that expensive Apple Watch in all situations.
 
Clunky or not, they know how to market. The kickstarter page is updating every 2 seconds with 10+ contributors, this will reach $10 million in no time. Their video is also well done, very approachable and not ostentatious. Gotta hand it to them. I am getting an Apple Watch but this is pretty nice.

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Heltik said:
Agreed, and extending... They should have enough market intel/feel for their audience to predict sales without Kickstarter.

So this says to me, they are grasping as they know how the Apple Watch platform/Apple Ecosystem crucifies their offering and are striving to gain momentum before that happens.
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Um, why not use Kickstarter, it's their "home crowd" and from the results of just a few hours, this thing is a HUGE hit. Yes, a bit cheesy to go back there but it's working.
 
tylersdad said:
A watch from the 90's won't give you notifications from your smartphone and an Apple watch will cost nearly $200 more and won't last a day on a single charge.

Is the Apple Watch prettier? Sure. Does it have more features? Sure. Does it do a lot more than most people need? Sure.

The Pebble fills a nice niche.
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Really, before the putdown was "lasts just a day" and now it is "won"t last a day", got a quote from Apple about that. You're going beyond the rumors, so I'm thinking you'Re just inventing stuff now. You'll also notice that there is two watches, so which one "won't last a day" according to your imaginary rumors?
 
GizmoDVD said:
...
Talk about a THICK bezel.

The Apple Watch can't come soon enough.
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I'm not so keen on the look of this new Pebble, but I'm not so keen on the Apple Watch either.

Isn't the Apple Watch bezel about the same size as this new Pebble Time? Just looks smaller due to the way it's designed?
 
mattopotamus said:
agreed. I think it is tacky. Granted it worked. The short supply causes and instant demand.
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Not necessarily.

Having worked for a small company that produced electronics, I can give some insight. Larger companies have more leverage, but small ones have very little, so it works out like this:

- you have to pay your manufacturer most or all upfront.
- there's a big lag before you get the finished product and even more before you get paid. This amounted to 6 months between when you had to pay the manufacturer for the product vs. when the retailer finally paid you.
- you have to guess how many to make. There's pressure to make more because the more you make the cheaper each unit is and you would hate to lose sales because you didn't order enough. But if you screw up and order a lot and they don't sell, well, then you're screwed.

In my case we were nearly betting the company each Christmas season.

Now, you can get that upfront money you need in various ways, but all of them will cost you... (and the worse you need the money, the more it will cost you).

So even for a company like Pebble, a kickstarter is really helpful.
- The get the upfront money they need without onerous terms.
- The get great information about how well the product will sell so they can size their order well.
 
Dagless said:
Why do Kickstarter? Because it works. Lots of established game studios also run Kickstarters like Hidden Path, Double Fine. Good way of taking preorders and getting money sooner rather than later, also a very good way to gauge genuine interest (and not people simple saying they're going to buy one).
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But isn't this just becoming a Pre-Order page for the product?
Also a lot of Kickstarter projects have not shipped or have shipped very late. I sometimes feel like it is squirrely business.
 
After reading through a lot of post the kickstarter makes sense. The product is not even ready to go out to the masses. They know they cannot start to sell it after the apple watch comes out. Take the money up front now why you can!
 
This is such a let down from Pebble.

You could mistake the first Pebble's watch looks because it was really a pioneer in the advanced functional smartwatch industry and one of the first to really try.

The Pebble Steel was a step in the right direction, taking the win's from the original Steele and wrapping it in a more "luxury" and at least watchlike casing. Making it somewhat professional looking and something traditional watch wearers might wear.

Then there is this.

I don't know where to start. Subjectively, it's a step BACK to the original pebble. The plastic, Cheap, low quality look and feel. Except this time, they're not a nobody company inventing themselves for the first time from a zero equity standpoint. big plastic looking watch.

And a kickstarter for it. This is where my mind "nopes" right off of Pebble and they're now no longer even an option for me. I think Kickstarter and crowd funding can be an excellent means of raising capital when you don't have it, or are unable to earn it because of new developments, like the original Pebble.

But Pebble has claimed to have sold over 1 million devices so far. in 2013 they had revenues of 43+ Million, and expected to double that in 2014. If pebble did in fact hit their goals, they sold close to 100 million in revenues in 2 years.

They have absolutely zero need to crowdfund this. Asking for consumers to pay for R&D for this watch is pure greed by pebble. it means they'd rather keep the profits of their company in their own hands, than re-invest in their own company. This is a huge red-flag for me.
 
ScottHammet said:
Got one so I won't have to wear my Apple Watch out working in the yard. An inexpensive smart watch has it's uses. Once you've had texts and email on your wrist, without dragging your phone out of your pocket every time it vibrates, there's no going back...but that doesn't have to mean wearing that expensive Apple Watch in all situations.
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Ditto.

I backed the original campaign, and have since picked up a second Pebble for development. These things are rugged. They are also a little kitsch and tacky (esp the bright orange watch I use for dev), but for a 7 day battery life, this is great.

The new Pebble really is the Timex sportswatch compared to the swiss movement dress watch of choice.

BUT, something people are missing from the Kickstarter announcement ...

"For DIYers, accessory makers and advanced customizers, we'll be publishing the 3D data you'll need to create amazing straps, covers and docks. Pebble Time also has a smart accessory port, enabling hardware developers to build sensors and smart straps that connect directly to the watch. Much more on this coming soon!"

Now THAT is interesting, and worth the investment by itself. While the aWatch might have the software and eco system, opening up the hardware like this is an interesting step.

Price point is such that it need not be an "either/or", but an "and".
 
Keirasplace said:
Really, before the putdown was "lasts just a day" and now it is "won"t last a day", got a quote from Apple about that. You're going beyond the rumors, so I'm thinking you'Re just inventing stuff now. You'll also notice that there is two watches, so which one "won't last a day" according to your imaginary rumors?
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I'd imagine they're basing their comments on this:
http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/22/apple...-battery-life-revealed-a5-caliber-cpu-inside/

Apple said it'll need to be charged nightly. Sources then claim 2.5-4 hours active use, 4 hours fitness tracking, 19 hours of combined active/passive use, 3 days of standby (no idea what that means, no checking the time?), 4 days in sleep mode.

That's pretty much all anyone has to go on until it's released.
 
mattopotamus said:
After reading through a lot of post the kickstarter makes sense. The product is not even ready to go out to the masses. They know they cannot start to sell it after the apple watch comes out. Take the money up front now why you can!
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doesn't make sense. Pebble is a profitable company now. They pulled in lots of profits according to the founders in the last two years.

There is zero reason to kickstarter.

How would you feel if Apple decided for the iPhone 7 to launch it as a kickstarter so that, despite Apple's billions in profits and cash on hand, they're still asking you, the consumer to pay for the development costs up front.

it's pure greed on pebble's part.
 
ScottHammet said:
Got one so I won't have to wear my Apple Watch out working in the yard. An inexpensive smart watch has it's uses. Once you've had texts and email on your wrist, without dragging your phone out of your pocket every time it vibrates, there's no going back...but that doesn't have to mean wearing that expensive Apple Watch in all situations.
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Assuming you want continual interruptions whilst working in the yard :) Hadn't considered the "Beater" idea... Good point.
 
ArtOfWarfare said:
I don't think it's likely that I'll buy a smart watch this year, but if I do, I think I'm more likely to buy this one than the :apple:Watch.

A watch isn't just style to me. It needs to be functional. I need to be able to take it in the water and not worry about it. I need it to be up for as long as I'm up (sometimes ~30 hours) - I can't have it dying on me part way through my day.

Plus price is a factor. My current watch cost me $20. It doesn't do as much as the Pebble Time or :Apple:Watch (nor does it look as nice as either of them) but I think $160 is definitely a more reasonable asking price than $350.
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The watch is $199, and looks cheap. $150 more and you get a real watch. If the Pebble price was $99 or $129, I could see it. But right now, it's too expensive.

This is confusing to me about the pebble's 'water resistance'. I would guess the Apple Watch is similar. But, swimming to me IS underwater. I don't understand.

We used the latest technology to maintain water resistance so you can swim or surf with Pebble Time (we do not, however, recommend talking underwater).
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Yes, the battery life of the watch IS awesome, but the GUI is very low res, and slow. So there are tradeoffs.
 
This "new" Pebble watch looks decidedly old-school, and not in a good way. I'm not a watch snob, but I'd never wear something this hideous. The thing looks cheap and poorly designed, especially the bezel. I don't care how functional it is, it shouldn't have to look bad to work.
 
mattopotamus said:
After reading through a lot of post the kickstarter makes sense. The product is not even ready to go out to the masses. They know they cannot start to sell it after the apple watch comes out. Take the money up front now why you can!
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Estimated delivery: May 2015

This really is a pre-order mechanism so they know how many PCBs and casings to order up front, the research and design is done. But for a small company, getting paid earlier can be very important.
 
The design of the watch itself looks better than the old one—but that isn't saying much. It certainly isn't bad, just not very good. But the fact that the display is always on and has a 7 day battery life is nice, and you can't beat the price. But you also get what you pay for…

What I don't like are the childish icons and strange stretching animations. It makes me wonder if they're pulling some weird stuff like that because the refresh rate of the e-ink display is too slow. It also says to me that they aren't taking the design seriously. As a designer myself I wouldn't want to be caught using something like that. Maybe other geeks would, but not me.

The timeline concept of the software is interesting, allowing you to quickly move through the events, notifications and reminders of the day. I often end up missing things when I dismiss my lock screen on my phone—especially now that I finally have TouchID—so that could be useful. But that brings me to something else…

I'm just not sure if I'm busy enough to need a smartwatch yet. I'm not always meeting up with a bunch of random friends after work, and I don't have dozens of meetings throughout the week at my job. I do a lot of work, and occasional freelance projects outside of work, but I don't do enough work that I have to be constantly checking my wrist to make sure I didn't miss something. If I ever get that busy I'm going to take a step back and re-examine my life because that's not how I personally want to live. As my baby girl grows up and we have more kids my life will no doubt become more busy, and I'll probably take on more responsibilities in my job as I grow in my career. But for now my iPhone still does a great job keeping me organized.

Eventually I'll get an Apple Watch, but at this point it seems too expensive for what you get. At least what the rumors are saying: The stainless steel (which is what I want to replace my current watch) is going to cost around $800-1000, but it won't have full apps at launch, the battery life is only going to be a day or two, and they are probably going to add a lot more health sensors in future versions, which I am interested in to keep myself healthy. I think version 2 will add more sensors, but around version 3 will be the big battery life improving update. Especially as 1. Chips have been massively shrinking and becoming more energy efficient lately and 2. Apple has hired tons of battery experts for their car project which I'm sure will lead to improved batteries in their other products as well.
 
After seeing all of these ugly watches, Microsoft Band it is! I've waited and everyone just came out with ugly items but Microsoft of all people!
 
tylersdad said:
Now show us a picture of the Apple Watch in the middle of the day when there is no charge left.
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The Apple watch will last a day. But I agree, there are trade-offs... which is why nobody is forcing anyone to buy one or the other.

We know: Pebble is cheaper, lasts 7 days, can be worn swimming (but not underwater!?!?!)

We know: Pebble has worse graphics resolution, slower GUI, no touch screen, no heartbeat sensor, looks clunkier, etc. etc.

So there are trade-offs and we all are trying to form opinions based on these tradeoffs.

To me, the pebble watch is worth $99 with those trade-offs. So, to me it's a no-sale at $199 (or the kickstarter price, now at $179)
 
Keirasplace said:
Really, before the putdown was "lasts just a day" and now it is "won"t last a day", got a quote from Apple about that. You're going beyond the rumors, so I'm thinking you'Re just inventing stuff now. You'll also notice that there is two watches, so which one "won't last a day" according to your imaginary rumors?
Click to expand...

Fine...

According to rumors, the Apple Watch will last less than 3 hours if you're actually using it. According to Tim Cooke, people should get comfortable with the idea that they'll be charging it every day.

Better?

It's still nowhere near the 7 days a Pebble gets.
 
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