The Pebble smartwatch: a record-breaking Kickstarter success story – The Verge

Pebble has sold over 400,000 smartwatches

2014-03-20T16:07:24-04:00

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 …

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Pebble update finally adds Do Not Disturb mode and improved alarms

2013-12-13T03:09:37-05:00

pebble smartwatch do not disturb

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.

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 s …

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The Verge at work: using the Pebble smartwatch to never miss a thing

2013-11-29T11:15:02-05:00

verge at work pebble lead

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.

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 deskto …

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Pebble arrives on Amazon for $148.99, sees $20 Black Friday discount on own website

2013-11-29T00:22:02-05:00

Pebble watch

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 annou …

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Pebble adds iOS 7 Notification Center support, partners with Foursquare and Yelp

2013-11-06T13:00:05-05:00

Pebble watch and Iphone (verge stock)

The Pebble might be our favorite smartwatch at the moment, but it's still a hassle to use. Setting up notifications is a pain, particularly on iOS, and there's just not a lot the Pebble can do. Thankfully, it looks like all of that is about to change.

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 …

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Fragments of time: the wild, messy state of smartwatches

2013-10-17T11:50:42-04:00

smartwatches 2013

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.

Even as we …

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Pebble touts over 275,000 total orders and more than one million app downloads

2013-07-11T15:37:57-04:00

pebble tetris pebblis

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.

Pebble also took a moment to address shipping concerns, a problem that has plagued the smartwatch ever since it became clear that the device w …

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Pebble smartwatch makes retail debut, now shipping from Best Buy

2013-07-02T11:35:16-04:00

pebble twine 800

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."

By offering …

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Pebble smartwatch apps are finally smart, can now talk to iOS and Android apps

2013-05-16T11:00:13-04:00

via cdn3.sbnation.com

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 Pebbl …

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RunKeeper updated with support for Pebble smartwatch

2013-05-07T09:00:01-04:00

runkeeper pebble

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.

It's a nice extension for both Pebble and RunKeeper, but it's tightly-focused to RunKeeper's core mission as a …

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