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Topic: iOS

Pebble starts shipping

Summary: The company behind the Pebble, the e-paper watch for iPhone and Android, has announced that at long last, it's shipping its first production units.

Joel Evans

By for The Mobile Gadgeteer |

If you're not familiar with the Pebble watch, it was born out of a Kickstarter project that raised more than $10 million.

I covered the Pebble back in April, and at the time the company mentioned it would target shipping for September 2012. Since that time, Pebble has been very open about manufacturing issues, and other things causing the delay, and has even added functionality to the watch during that time.

Now the shipping day has arrived. It's not clear how many are shipping, since the company said that it's shipping "less than 500 units" today, to the very first backers. That said, if the first units are out of the door, more will be coming in pretty short order.

pebblecarton
(Credit: Pebble)

I'm excited to get my hands on the Pebble. The company has advanced the tech and the functionality of the Pebble SDK, since the Kickstarter campaign, and, with all of the hype, an app shipping on Google Play tomorrow (iOS coming soon, as the team works through the App Store review process), and the company promising software updates with new features for Pebble every two to three weeks, the Pebble will definitely be the watch to beat.

Unfortunately, I'm not among the first backers, so I'll just have to wait and read the early reviews until my watch comes.

Topics: iOS, Android, Apple

About

With more than 15 years of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands and technologies into the mobile and wireless space. Joel is currently the VP of Strategy Integration for Mobiquity, an enterprise-class mobile solutions provider.

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Talkback

9 comments
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  • What about the Wimm One?

    The enthusiasm the pebble gets is somewhat annoying considering how the Wimm One was out first.
    Shrug
    Reply Vote

    • Price and design

      If you got in on the kickstarter, the Pebble was $100 less than the Wimm, and considerably more attractive.
      Bogus Maximus
      Reply 1 Vote

  • What about the Wimm One?

    The enthusiasm the pebble gets is somewhat annoying considering how the Wimm One was out first.
    Shrug
    Reply 1 Vote

  • What is it with pictures here

    Looking at the header for this article on the main page I see the watch on the wrist of someone, but very small picture.

    Click to read the article and get a big picture of shipment boxes when I expected to see the same picture than the header but bigger...

    Be constant with pictures, it's annoying not seeing the "interesting" picture in big format (absolutely nothing interesting on seeing shipment boxes).
    lepoete73
    Reply Vote

  • Typo

    "The company behind the Pebble, the e-paper watch for iPhone and Android, has announced that at long last, it's shipping its first production units."

    I was under the impression that the Pebble is NOT using e-paper, but technology SIMILAR to it.
    jhnnybgood
    Reply Vote

    • ...

      and I'm just noticing the shipping boxes say e-paper... I really thought the watch used an LCD technology that wasn't exactly e-paper.
      jhnnybgood
      Reply Vote

      • Info from the official Pebble website

        "Pebble can change instantly, thanks to its brilliant, outdoor-readable electronic-paper (e-paper) display."
        source: http://getpebble.com/#customize-with-watchfaces
        R_Connelie@...
        Reply Vote

        • I Must Be Wrong

          I scoured the site, too, and came up with the same answer.

          Found out where my confusion was: E-Ink and "E-Paper" are completely different things. E-Ink is the good stuff, E-Paper is the pretender.

          It was the comments section from this article

          http://reviews.cnet.com/watches-and-wrist-devices/pebble-watch/4505-3512_7-35567496.html?autoplay=true

          that reminded me of that point.
          jhnnybgood
          Reply Vote

  • terrible art

    You couldn't find a picture of the watch? You chose a picture of plastic-wrapped shipping boxes? How dull and uninformative. I wanted to see what it was you're talking about.
    deja_voodoo@...
    Reply Vote
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