In a week that has had its fair share of exciting developments on the smartwatch front comes more good news. Pebble, one of the pioneers in this space, announced that Pebble sales which started in January 2013 have now topped the 400,000 unit mark. That number includes the original 85,000 Kickstarter pre-orders that launched the company’s impressive run.That translates to an estimated US$60 million in revenues for the company.
Asked about Google’s announcement of Google Wear earlier this week, Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky welcomed the news: “When we started working on wearables six years ago, there were few players in the space and a lot of skeptics. It’s exciting to see this market grow so quickly — enabling more interesting use cases and keeping all of us laser-focused on creating the very best user experiences we can.”
Pebble got its start in 2009 as a school project for Migicovsky. Things really took off when the startup launched a Kickstarter project in 2012 to fund efforts to bring the smartwatch to market. The project exceeded expectations and raised US$10.3 million in just over a month. Angel funding followed and Pebble has now grown to a company employing some 70 people.
With Google and others jumping into the smartphone market, Pebble is not resting on its laurels. It is already looking at new technologies to enhance future Pebble products. Among them are improved battery life technologies, newer displays including flexible ones. “My dream watch would be something that is just screen, but we’re going to live with reality for a little while,” he says. His goal is to continue improving the Pebble so that “if other people compete with us, they would have to do it on our terms.”
The future certainly looks bright for Pebble. It launched the new Pebble Steel at CES 2014 and expects to more than double revenues in 2014.
Source : Fortune