20 ms·

Pebble E-Paper Watch Raises $1M In 28 Hours

167 points by yurisagalov 15y ago

smackfu 15y ago
I wonder how many of their Blackberry watch they sold. More than this 10,000 preorders?
webjprgm 15y ago
I'd love the idea, except that I don't want to recharge my watch like a cell phone. I'm used to my watch lasting years without changing the battery. But if I can program my own custom watch face with a button that turns off the Bluetooth, thus extending the battery life ...
- Ralith 15y ago
  > I don't want to recharge my watch like a cell phone Isn't that (part of) why it's got an eink display?
  - aeeeee 15y ago
    It does, the video says ~7 days on one charge. Not bad but not great either.
    - mxavier 15y ago
      I own the original inPulse and the charge lasts about 1 day. That's the main reason why I stopped wearing it. Definitely interested in something I can let go longer with an always-on screen. I'm not a fan of thinking about my watch's charge level.
    - ekianjo 15y ago
      That's going to be a major hurdle for adoption among a wider audience. Not that they need it to be successful, by the way. But most people already end up charging their mobile phones everyday, then they'll have to keep remembering to charge the watch as well every week... that's not very user friendly. If the battery lasted one month, that would probably be a good spot to be at. I wonder if they could make an e-ink display with a layer acting as a solar panel charger at the same time. Maybe they could recharge the watch this way, continuously.
  - vacri 15y ago
    it'll be the bluetooth that's the power hog
- marknutter 15y ago
  Just plug it in when you take it off at night. That step can't be that inconvenient, can it?
  - jazzychad 15y ago
    I'm not sure about GP, but I don't take my watch off at night. The only time I take mine off is when water is involved (I use a cloth watchband). However, if it only needs to be recharged every 7 days, I could recharge it along w/ my fitbit each weekend.
    - possibilistic 15y ago
      I only take off my watch when I shower. I even go swimming with my watch. Something like this is really slick, but I have trouble as it is remembering to charge my phone...
      - micahgoulart 15y ago
        Obvious solution is to make a charger for the shower, similar to the ones electric toothbrushes use. Since it lasts 7 days, we can surely hope you take a shower within that time period =)
    - possibilistic 15y ago
      I only take off my watch when I shower. I even go swimming with my watch. Something like this is really slick, but I have trouble as it is remembering to charge my phone... I still want one though.
  - whyenot 15y ago
    It's significantly more trouble than what you would do with most other wristwatches: change the battery once every year or three (or if you have a self winding analog watch, never do anything).
    - marknutter 15y ago
- vinayan3 15y ago
  I suspect that watch could last maybe a few days without charging. I am quite tempted to get one however if it needs to be charged every few days it might be annoying when traveling. I already have to carry enough cables when I travel.
- wr1472 15y ago
  If you switch off bluetooth connectivity is it not "just" a watch with a few more features (Accelerometer)? Am I missing something? Alternatively create an app that switches Bluetooth off at night automatically.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- pazimzadeh 15y ago
  It's an MVP, I'm sure future versions will compensate. Anyway, flip-phone batteries can last weeks but I'm sure you still use a smartphone.
  - lucian1900 15y ago
    years -> days is a much bigger difference than 7 days -> 2 days
  - regularfry 15y ago
    They won't compensate unless the market pushes back. If they can sell this with a 7-day life, my guess is that they will keep that battery life and use tech advances to add features. That's precisely what's happened in the smartphone market.
    - pazimzadeh 15y ago
      That's a good point. And it does look like their UI will have to be refreshed or embellished in the future to make this a better mass market product.
- gaius 15y ago
  I'm not sure how much of a problem this will be. People have worn mechanical watches for a hundred years, and many people who could wear any watch they like choose to continue to do so. Winding is not a barrier to adoption, so why should charging be?
jiakeliu 15y ago
Inspiring. I wonder how helpful YC was to them for being largely a hardware company. Mass production and distribution must be some of the biggest challenges... maybe they can be the next Apple :)
lucaspiller 15y ago
How does this compare to the Sony Ericsson Liveview? Other than this being more expensive and only having a monochrome display? http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Ericsson-Liveview-display-Android/dp/B004E2V4NM http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Ericsson-Liveview-display-Android...
- jstabbac 15y ago
  Battery seems to be a big point, lots of people are claiming the Sony Ericsson watch only lasts a half day to a day.
- vitno 15y ago
  this one has an e-ink display. which is readable outside. also as a result, it has a nice battery life. It also looks NICE.
  - aiscott 15y ago
    Note that it does not appear to have an e-ink display. They called it e-paper which doesn't necessarily mean the same thing. The display appears to be this one: http://www.sharpmemorylcd.com/1-26-inch-memory-lcd.html http://www.sharpmemorylcd.com/1-26-inch-memory-lcd.html or something like it. It's transflective so you can read it outside, and inside you can use a backlight (which they list on the tech specs). It's very low power, so you can leave it on all the time. Those two things combined are why they call it e-paper. Personally I think it is a bit confusing on their part, but I understand them wanting to get across that it's always on and visible outside. However, it does get confused with e-ink.
    - grannyg00se 15y ago
      Their other watch (inPulse) uses an OLED display that looks similar.
- growt 15y ago
  the sony live view is a piece of shit. Trust me or the reviews on Amazon. It loses it's connection every minute, the battery lasts three hours, the wristband is itchy ... The list goes on.
eblume 15y ago
Very intriguing but I personally can't stand watches that 'get in the way', and looking at the prototype it sure looks like this thing would get in the way a lot. I haven't worn a watch for years, so this may be just a personal gripe.
- muhfuhkuh 15y ago
  Some would say the same thing about cars. Or, laptops.
EricR23 15y ago
If I hadn't just got a Nike Fuel band, I'd probably get one of those! Don't think I could pull off wearing both.
abyssknight 15y ago
I just picked up the TI EZ430 dev kit, and then this hits the web. I tried for days not to back it, and then it hits HN. Oops. There goes the money, and my pride. ;) Hopefully its as awesome as it looks!
goronbjorn 15y ago
$1M/28 hours = $850k/day $1b/2 years = $1.4m/day Still less than Instagram.
- ajays 15y ago
  May be.... but most of the money in Instagram went to the VCs; here, all of it is going to the company.
  - goronbjorn 15y ago
    Not necessarily most… The two founders owned 50% of the company so at most half.
  - parlane 15y ago
    5% to KickStarter. Which would make KickStarter a viable business. I assume 5% of all sales is to deal with cost of transactions though, maybe they have a deal with Amazon.
- mikedmiked 15y ago
  Maybe if they put some filters on the e-ink display it could squeeze a couple extra $100k?
motti_s 15y ago
As a gadget freak and a hacker, I love this product. But I wonder how many people use a watch these days. Of course this is no ordinary watch, but when you have a supercomputer (in the shape of a phone) in your pocket, is it really needed? I suppose it's great for sports, but I'm not sure whether it has mass market potential (selling ~10K in a few hours is amazing, but isn't mass market yet). I'm actually on the fence with this one... In general I think that watches will make a comeback only if they become the phone. Maybe Pebble will be well positioned to do that in the future (remember iPod -> iPhone?). BTW It's nice to see a hardware company coming out of YC. Also nice to know that Eric is from Vancouver. Good luck Pebble! I'll buy one as soon as I stop being a starving bootstrapper.
- 6ren 15y ago
  I think the cool idea is you can get notifications/interact with your phone, without taking it out.
- phlyingpenguin 15y ago
  I find the use of cell phones as pocket watches tacky. As a grad student, I've seen many speakers come in and open a cell phone in the middle of a talk to check their time usage, which I find utterly unacceptable. Depending on your situation, look around a bit and see who's wearing a watch. It may not be the norm anymore, but it's still not an unusual thing to do at all. If nothing else, they are a good fashion accessory.
  - johnmw 15y ago
    Don't you think 'utterly unacceptable' is a just little harsh, remembering that technology, fashion, and language are not fixed things and are always changing. I think it is quite acceptable that mobile phones have replaced wrist watches. Or maybe we should go back to giving lectures in a top hat and monocle, and checking our time usage with a fob watch? ;)
    - phlyingpenguin 15y ago
      It's not the change in fashion that I'm taking issue with. Standing in front of a group of people with your attention fixed on a communication device is not good presentation. If it were glancing down at a clock sitting on a podium or table, that would be fine. This is not how it happens in practice. The biggest difference between a cell phone and a watch or other timepiece on a surface is that a cell phone requires interaction to extract the time. The extent of that interaction really doesn't matter. It goes from a momentary action of pulling a phone out and pressing a wake button to a nervous speaker confounded by a single button press and a screen too dim to see without making a spectacle of the action. This is the more common of the cell phone users I witness. The trouble is that every minute thing a speaker does is on display and just as a speaker expects (or hopes for) respect from the audience, I as an audience member expect the speaker to be attentive and professional. So can it be done gracefully without my ire? Probably. I have yet to be pleasantly surprised.
wildmXranat 15y ago
Neat toy, but it looks like it needs a phone to use data, install applications and so on. Personally, I'm not the type of person that wants to wear another accessory. I used to need a watch. I don't need a watch that needs a phone. Just saying. I see this as a sample of what's to come from mobile technology. I prefer that phones evolve instead of adding a new accessory.
- reginaldo 15y ago
  Sci-fi-like rant below: I agree in that I also don't need a watch, much less a watch that needs a phone. But I imagine I will wear a watch-like device again in the future. Have you ever heard about the expression "the internet of things"? Well, it is going to happen, but we're not quite there yet [1]. And when it happens, I bet we're going to navigate trough it using watch-like devices at first [2]. It's more natural because the watch in one's wrist is much more accessible and therefore has a much lower latency then the phone in one's pocket. Today, the precursor of the internet of things is the internet of smartphones. So Pebble uses a watch to navigate the internet of smartphones. When the internet of things finally comes, they'll be in a very nice position with experience and brand recognition. [1] The signs are here though: arduino, raspberry pi... How long until we have a low power 5 dollars board that we can put anywhere? How about a 1 dollar board? [2] then we'll use augmented reality glasses and finally we'll just implant chips and be ourselves part of this internet of things.
savrajsingh 15y ago
Congrats to the Pebble team! It's great to see a hardware / software startup like this one succeed. All the standard criticisms of "hey, they'll knock that off in China tomorrow" don't apply at all as integrated hardware and software isn't as easy as it seems. It's also interesting that a lot of HN users are saying "ah, I don't want another device" while the market is saying that there are a lot of people out there that want a cool iPhone integrated watch.
nextparadigms 15y ago
I wonder how it compares to Sony's smartwatch: http://youtu.be/d7C-XuSEBPA http://youtu.be/d7C-XuSEBPA
- PostOnce 15y ago
  also https://motoactv.com/ https://motoactv.com/
- nacs 15y ago
  I've been researching both lately.. The Pebble is an E-ink display so its monochrome but lasts longer ("7+ days") while the Smartwatch is an OLED display which lasts around 5 days according to Sony. Also, the Pebble uses buttons for navigation while the Smartwatch is "multitouch" (9 points in a 128x128 display). The biggest difference IMO is that the Pebble supports both iPhone and Android while the Smartwatch only supports Android. Also the Smartwatch is a bit bulkier and it sticks out more as its really thick.
guynamedloren 15y ago
Okay, I hate to be that guy, but I can't hold it in. These Kickstarter campaigns for iPhone accessories bother the shit out of me. See the following: > iPhone dock: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hop/elevation-dock-the-best-dock-for-iphone?ref=most-funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hop/elevation-dock-the-b... > iPod watch: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1104350651/tiktok-lunatik-multi-touch-watch-kits?ref=most-funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1104350651/tiktok-lunati... > iPod speaker: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2107726947/hidden-radio-and-bluetooth-speaker?ref=most-funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2107726947/hidden-radio-... > iPhone tripod: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jj1/cineskates-camera-sliders?ref=category http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jj1/cineskates-camera-sl... All of these projects have received hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Notice a trend here? iProduct + Kickstarter + Aluminum(optional) = $$$. A formula for successful/massive funding. I probably have a naive view of what Kickstarter is supposed to be, but I envision it as a platform for launching innovative ideas. Sure, you can argue that these products are a few steps ahead of the incumbents, but let's be honest - they are virtually useless. They products don't leave the world in a better place. They aren't pushing any bounds. They aren't amazing. And the crazy thing is that I have never seen any of them in the wild, ever, despite being surrounded by tech savvy people, Apple fanboys, and iOS fanatics. What's up with that? I fear that Kickstarter will become a platform to launch new iPhone accessories. But I guess that's what the world craves.
- guynamedloren 15y ago
  Oh, and see the most funded projects in the 'design' category: http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/design/most-funded#p1 http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/design/most-f...
- CaveTech 15y ago
  Obviously the products are desirable and wanted. No, they're not "changing the world", but why do they have to? They're using kickstarter as a portal to get backers to bring their product to life. They make beautiful products people want to own, that wouldn't be produced otherwise.
- danilocampos 15y ago
aresant 15y ago
The #1 "low-hanging-fruit" place to find additional revenue is from existing customers - getting people to trust your brand, enter their CC once, etc is much harder than getting them to do it a second time. Kickstarter feels like a social-network of BUYING enthusiasts - it's a brilliant ecommerce model - get the product nodes to do your marketing for you, then enjoy the network effect of retaining those buyers as your own customers.
lucian1900 15y ago
Interesting. I'd buy a watch with e-ink display, front light on demand, independence of phone for basic functions and at least several weeks battery life.
qq66 15y ago
What's the general-case solution to technical failure of a Kickstarter project? For example, what happens if the organizers spend the money they raised to build the product, but it turns out that they underestimated the costs, and now can't deliver what they promised to give you if you pledge $x? I ask because usually when you buy a product, it's already been made -- if a Kickstarter investment is purely a donation that's one thing, but a lot of Kickstarters seem to be a way of pre-buying something that hasn't actually been implemented yet.
- thetron 15y ago
  I had contributed to a Kickstarter project (a piece of software) that failed to finish. Recently, the author wrote an update offering refunds (plus 5% interest) to all backers. Personally, I consider all Kickstarter donations to be be just that, even if the reward includes some sort of 'preorder' - although saying that, I would be super disappointed if I invested $100+ in a project that then fell on its face. I guess that the risk of investment, right?
  - FaceKicker 15y ago
    So if this team just decided to run off with the $1.6M right now for essentially writing a page worth of text and making a couple concept videos, would there be any legal recourse for the donors? Not that I have any suspicion at all that that's what this team is doing, but Kickstarter projects in general seem like a relatively easy way for someone to make a good chunk of money for the cost of a couple hours' worth of work. Is there really nothing more to it - donors just have to cross their fingers that the team is legit and isn't just going to run away with the money?
    - ajuc 15y ago
      I thought they won't get the money until they finish the product?
      - thetron 15y ago
        As I understand it, Kickstarter projects get the money as soon as the 40 day countdown is up, but only if they get 100% funded.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
doe88 15y ago
I'm wondering if their iPhone application needs to remain in foreground/active in order to receive notifications? I doubt it because it would be a quite big shortcoming but on other hand given the state of third-party 'multitasking' on iOS I'm not sure it is technically possible without it. Anybody wants to chime in?
nextparadigms 15y ago
Do people really care more about a watch that may not even be all that practical, to give it $1 million in 1 day, than an ISP that vows to protect your privacy, or is it just because he didn't use Kickstarter (he couldn't): http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57413511-281/privacy-protective-isp-raises-over-$43000-in-donations-in-one-day/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57413511-281/privacy-prote...

167 points by yurisagalov 15y ago

I wonder how many of their Blackberry watch they sold. More than this 10,000 preorders?

I'd love the idea, except that I don't want to recharge my watch like a cell phone. I'm used to my watch lasting years without changing the battery. But if I can program my own custom watch face with a button that turns off the Bluetooth, thus extending the battery life ...

Ralith 15y ago
> I don't want to recharge my watch like a cell phone Isn't that (part of) why it's got an eink display?
- aeeeee 15y ago
  It does, the video says ~7 days on one charge. Not bad but not great either.
  - mxavier 15y ago
    I own the original inPulse and the charge lasts about 1 day. That's the main reason why I stopped wearing it. Definitely interested in something I can let go longer with an always-on screen. I'm not a fan of thinking about my watch's charge level.
  - ekianjo 15y ago
    That's going to be a major hurdle for adoption among a wider audience. Not that they need it to be successful, by the way. But most people already end up charging their mobile phones everyday, then they'll have to keep remembering to charge the watch as well every week... that's not very user friendly. If the battery lasted one month, that would probably be a good spot to be at. I wonder if they could make an e-ink display with a layer acting as a solar panel charger at the same time. Maybe they could recharge the watch this way, continuously.
- vacri 15y ago
  it'll be the bluetooth that's the power hog
marknutter 15y ago
Just plug it in when you take it off at night. That step can't be that inconvenient, can it?
- jazzychad 15y ago
  I'm not sure about GP, but I don't take my watch off at night. The only time I take mine off is when water is involved (I use a cloth watchband). However, if it only needs to be recharged every 7 days, I could recharge it along w/ my fitbit each weekend.
  - possibilistic 15y ago
    I only take off my watch when I shower. I even go swimming with my watch. Something like this is really slick, but I have trouble as it is remembering to charge my phone...
    - micahgoulart 15y ago
      Obvious solution is to make a charger for the shower, similar to the ones electric toothbrushes use. Since it lasts 7 days, we can surely hope you take a shower within that time period =)
  - possibilistic 15y ago
    I only take off my watch when I shower. I even go swimming with my watch. Something like this is really slick, but I have trouble as it is remembering to charge my phone... I still want one though.
- whyenot 15y ago
  It's significantly more trouble than what you would do with most other wristwatches: change the battery once every year or three (or if you have a self winding analog watch, never do anything).
  - marknutter 15y ago
vinayan3 15y ago
I suspect that watch could last maybe a few days without charging. I am quite tempted to get one however if it needs to be charged every few days it might be annoying when traveling. I already have to carry enough cables when I travel.
wr1472 15y ago
If you switch off bluetooth connectivity is it not "just" a watch with a few more features (Accelerometer)? Am I missing something? Alternatively create an app that switches Bluetooth off at night automatically.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
pazimzadeh 15y ago
It's an MVP, I'm sure future versions will compensate. Anyway, flip-phone batteries can last weeks but I'm sure you still use a smartphone.
- lucian1900 15y ago
  years -> days is a much bigger difference than 7 days -> 2 days
- regularfry 15y ago
  They won't compensate unless the market pushes back. If they can sell this with a 7-day life, my guess is that they will keep that battery life and use tech advances to add features. That's precisely what's happened in the smartphone market.
  - pazimzadeh 15y ago
    That's a good point. And it does look like their UI will have to be refreshed or embellished in the future to make this a better mass market product.
gaius 15y ago
I'm not sure how much of a problem this will be. People have worn mechanical watches for a hundred years, and many people who could wear any watch they like choose to continue to do so. Winding is not a barrier to adoption, so why should charging be?

jiakeliu 15y ago

Inspiring. I wonder how helpful YC was to them for being largely a hardware company. Mass production and distribution must be some of the biggest challenges... maybe they can be the next Apple :)

lucaspiller 15y ago

How does this compare to the Sony Ericsson Liveview? Other than this being more expensive and only having a monochrome display? http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Ericsson-Liveview-display-Android/dp/B004E2V4NM http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Ericsson-Liveview-display-Android...

jstabbac 15y ago
Battery seems to be a big point, lots of people are claiming the Sony Ericsson watch only lasts a half day to a day.
vitno 15y ago
this one has an e-ink display. which is readable outside. also as a result, it has a nice battery life. It also looks NICE.
- aiscott 15y ago
  Note that it does not appear to have an e-ink display. They called it e-paper which doesn't necessarily mean the same thing. The display appears to be this one: http://www.sharpmemorylcd.com/1-26-inch-memory-lcd.html http://www.sharpmemorylcd.com/1-26-inch-memory-lcd.html or something like it. It's transflective so you can read it outside, and inside you can use a backlight (which they list on the tech specs). It's very low power, so you can leave it on all the time. Those two things combined are why they call it e-paper. Personally I think it is a bit confusing on their part, but I understand them wanting to get across that it's always on and visible outside. However, it does get confused with e-ink.
  - grannyg00se 15y ago
    Their other watch (inPulse) uses an OLED display that looks similar.
growt 15y ago
the sony live view is a piece of shit. Trust me or the reviews on Amazon. It loses it's connection every minute, the battery lasts three hours, the wristband is itchy ... The list goes on.

eblume 15y ago

Very intriguing but I personally can't stand watches that 'get in the way', and looking at the prototype it sure looks like this thing would get in the way a lot. I haven't worn a watch for years, so this may be just a personal gripe.

muhfuhkuh 15y ago
Some would say the same thing about cars. Or, laptops.

EricR23 15y ago

If I hadn't just got a Nike Fuel band, I'd probably get one of those! Don't think I could pull off wearing both.

abyssknight 15y ago

I just picked up the TI EZ430 dev kit, and then this hits the web. I tried for days not to back it, and then it hits HN. Oops. There goes the money, and my pride. ;) Hopefully its as awesome as it looks!

goronbjorn 15y ago

$1M/28 hours = $850k/day $1b/2 years = $1.4m/day Still less than Instagram.

ajays 15y ago
May be.... but most of the money in Instagram went to the VCs; here, all of it is going to the company.
- goronbjorn 15y ago
  Not necessarily most… The two founders owned 50% of the company so at most half.
- parlane 15y ago
  5% to KickStarter. Which would make KickStarter a viable business. I assume 5% of all sales is to deal with cost of transactions though, maybe they have a deal with Amazon.
mikedmiked 15y ago
Maybe if they put some filters on the e-ink display it could squeeze a couple extra $100k?

motti_s 15y ago

As a gadget freak and a hacker, I love this product. But I wonder how many people use a watch these days. Of course this is no ordinary watch, but when you have a supercomputer (in the shape of a phone) in your pocket, is it really needed? I suppose it's great for sports, but I'm not sure whether it has mass market potential (selling ~10K in a few hours is amazing, but isn't mass market yet). I'm actually on the fence with this one... In general I think that watches will make a comeback only if they become the phone. Maybe Pebble will be well positioned to do that in the future (remember iPod -> iPhone?). BTW It's nice to see a hardware company coming out of YC. Also nice to know that Eric is from Vancouver. Good luck Pebble! I'll buy one as soon as I stop being a starving bootstrapper.

6ren 15y ago
I think the cool idea is you can get notifications/interact with your phone, without taking it out.
phlyingpenguin 15y ago
I find the use of cell phones as pocket watches tacky. As a grad student, I've seen many speakers come in and open a cell phone in the middle of a talk to check their time usage, which I find utterly unacceptable. Depending on your situation, look around a bit and see who's wearing a watch. It may not be the norm anymore, but it's still not an unusual thing to do at all. If nothing else, they are a good fashion accessory.
- johnmw 15y ago
  Don't you think 'utterly unacceptable' is a just little harsh, remembering that technology, fashion, and language are not fixed things and are always changing. I think it is quite acceptable that mobile phones have replaced wrist watches. Or maybe we should go back to giving lectures in a top hat and monocle, and checking our time usage with a fob watch? ;)
  - phlyingpenguin 15y ago
    It's not the change in fashion that I'm taking issue with. Standing in front of a group of people with your attention fixed on a communication device is not good presentation. If it were glancing down at a clock sitting on a podium or table, that would be fine. This is not how it happens in practice. The biggest difference between a cell phone and a watch or other timepiece on a surface is that a cell phone requires interaction to extract the time. The extent of that interaction really doesn't matter. It goes from a momentary action of pulling a phone out and pressing a wake button to a nervous speaker confounded by a single button press and a screen too dim to see without making a spectacle of the action. This is the more common of the cell phone users I witness. The trouble is that every minute thing a speaker does is on display and just as a speaker expects (or hopes for) respect from the audience, I as an audience member expect the speaker to be attentive and professional. So can it be done gracefully without my ire? Probably. I have yet to be pleasantly surprised.

wildmXranat 15y ago

Neat toy, but it looks like it needs a phone to use data, install applications and so on. Personally, I'm not the type of person that wants to wear another accessory. I used to need a watch. I don't need a watch that needs a phone. Just saying. I see this as a sample of what's to come from mobile technology. I prefer that phones evolve instead of adding a new accessory.

reginaldo 15y ago
Sci-fi-like rant below: I agree in that I also don't need a watch, much less a watch that needs a phone. But I imagine I will wear a watch-like device again in the future. Have you ever heard about the expression "the internet of things"? Well, it is going to happen, but we're not quite there yet [1]. And when it happens, I bet we're going to navigate trough it using watch-like devices at first [2]. It's more natural because the watch in one's wrist is much more accessible and therefore has a much lower latency then the phone in one's pocket. Today, the precursor of the internet of things is the internet of smartphones. So Pebble uses a watch to navigate the internet of smartphones. When the internet of things finally comes, they'll be in a very nice position with experience and brand recognition. [1] The signs are here though: arduino, raspberry pi... How long until we have a low power 5 dollars board that we can put anywhere? How about a 1 dollar board? [2] then we'll use augmented reality glasses and finally we'll just implant chips and be ourselves part of this internet of things.

savrajsingh 15y ago

Congrats to the Pebble team! It's great to see a hardware / software startup like this one succeed. All the standard criticisms of "hey, they'll knock that off in China tomorrow" don't apply at all as integrated hardware and software isn't as easy as it seems. It's also interesting that a lot of HN users are saying "ah, I don't want another device" while the market is saying that there are a lot of people out there that want a cool iPhone integrated watch.

nextparadigms 15y ago

I wonder how it compares to Sony's smartwatch: http://youtu.be/d7C-XuSEBPA http://youtu.be/d7C-XuSEBPA

PostOnce 15y ago
also https://motoactv.com/ https://motoactv.com/
nacs 15y ago
I've been researching both lately.. The Pebble is an E-ink display so its monochrome but lasts longer ("7+ days") while the Smartwatch is an OLED display which lasts around 5 days according to Sony. Also, the Pebble uses buttons for navigation while the Smartwatch is "multitouch" (9 points in a 128x128 display). The biggest difference IMO is that the Pebble supports both iPhone and Android while the Smartwatch only supports Android. Also the Smartwatch is a bit bulkier and it sticks out more as its really thick.

guynamedloren 15y ago

Okay, I hate to be that guy, but I can't hold it in. These Kickstarter campaigns for iPhone accessories bother the shit out of me. See the following: > iPhone dock: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hop/elevation-dock-the-best-dock-for-iphone?ref=most-funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hop/elevation-dock-the-b... > iPod watch: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1104350651/tiktok-lunatik-multi-touch-watch-kits?ref=most-funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1104350651/tiktok-lunati... > iPod speaker: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2107726947/hidden-radio-and-bluetooth-speaker?ref=most-funded http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2107726947/hidden-radio-... > iPhone tripod: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jj1/cineskates-camera-sliders?ref=category http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jj1/cineskates-camera-sl... All of these projects have received hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Notice a trend here? iProduct + Kickstarter + Aluminum(optional) = $$$. A formula for successful/massive funding. I probably have a naive view of what Kickstarter is supposed to be, but I envision it as a platform for launching innovative ideas. Sure, you can argue that these products are a few steps ahead of the incumbents, but let's be honest - they are virtually useless. They products don't leave the world in a better place. They aren't pushing any bounds. They aren't amazing. And the crazy thing is that I have never seen any of them in the wild, ever, despite being surrounded by tech savvy people, Apple fanboys, and iOS fanatics. What's up with that? I fear that Kickstarter will become a platform to launch new iPhone accessories. But I guess that's what the world craves.

guynamedloren 15y ago
Oh, and see the most funded projects in the 'design' category: http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/design/most-funded#p1 http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/design/most-f...
CaveTech 15y ago
Obviously the products are desirable and wanted. No, they're not "changing the world", but why do they have to? They're using kickstarter as a portal to get backers to bring their product to life. They make beautiful products people want to own, that wouldn't be produced otherwise.
danilocampos 15y ago

aresant 15y ago

The #1 "low-hanging-fruit" place to find additional revenue is from existing customers - getting people to trust your brand, enter their CC once, etc is much harder than getting them to do it a second time. Kickstarter feels like a social-network of BUYING enthusiasts - it's a brilliant ecommerce model - get the product nodes to do your marketing for you, then enjoy the network effect of retaining those buyers as your own customers.

lucian1900 15y ago

Interesting. I'd buy a watch with e-ink display, front light on demand, independence of phone for basic functions and at least several weeks battery life.

qq66 15y ago

What's the general-case solution to technical failure of a Kickstarter project? For example, what happens if the organizers spend the money they raised to build the product, but it turns out that they underestimated the costs, and now can't deliver what they promised to give you if you pledge $x? I ask because usually when you buy a product, it's already been made -- if a Kickstarter investment is purely a donation that's one thing, but a lot of Kickstarters seem to be a way of pre-buying something that hasn't actually been implemented yet.

thetron 15y ago
I had contributed to a Kickstarter project (a piece of software) that failed to finish. Recently, the author wrote an update offering refunds (plus 5% interest) to all backers. Personally, I consider all Kickstarter donations to be be just that, even if the reward includes some sort of 'preorder' - although saying that, I would be super disappointed if I invested $100+ in a project that then fell on its face. I guess that the risk of investment, right?
- FaceKicker 15y ago
  So if this team just decided to run off with the $1.6M right now for essentially writing a page worth of text and making a couple concept videos, would there be any legal recourse for the donors? Not that I have any suspicion at all that that's what this team is doing, but Kickstarter projects in general seem like a relatively easy way for someone to make a good chunk of money for the cost of a couple hours' worth of work. Is there really nothing more to it - donors just have to cross their fingers that the team is legit and isn't just going to run away with the money?
  - ajuc 15y ago
    I thought they won't get the money until they finish the product?
    - thetron 15y ago
      As I understand it, Kickstarter projects get the money as soon as the 40 day countdown is up, but only if they get 100% funded.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

doe88 15y ago

I'm wondering if their iPhone application needs to remain in foreground/active in order to receive notifications? I doubt it because it would be a quite big shortcoming but on other hand given the state of third-party 'multitasking' on iOS I'm not sure it is technically possible without it. Anybody wants to chime in?

nextparadigms 15y ago

Do people really care more about a watch that may not even be all that practical, to give it $1 million in 1 day, than an ISP that vows to protect your privacy, or is it just because he didn't use Kickstarter (he couldn't): http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57413511-281/privacy-protective-isp-raises-over-$43000-in-donations-in-one-day/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57413511-281/privacy-prote...