Skip to footer

Pebble smartwatch, long delayed, set to ship on Jan. 23

The Pebble smartwatch, which enjoyed one of the most successful Kickstarter drives in history, is finally set to reach consumers. 

|
Pebble
The Pebble smartwatch is one of the few smart-watch devices on the market. A Samsung executive confirmed that the company is making a watch with capabilities similar to a smart phone's.
  • By Matthew Shaer

Way back in April of last year, a Californian named Eric Migicovsky launched a Kickstarter campaign for the Pebble "smartwatch" – a Bluetooth-enabled, iOS- and Android-compatible fashion accessory. Pledges of $125 got a Pebble watch; pledges of $550 got five of the things. The fundraising goal was $100K. Migicovsky ended up with $10,267,000 – enough to make it one of the most successful Kickstarter drives in history. 

But Pebble hit persistent delays, and didn't make its initial ship date – a hiccup the Pebble team blamed on the overwhelming demand.

Now, the good news: According to Migicovsky, who spoke this week at the CES tradeshow in Las Vegas, the Pebble watch will begin shipping on January 23rd. PC Mag reports that Pebble expects to ship 15,000 units each week, starting with the initial Kickstarter backers. 

In a subsequent blog post, Migicovsky thanked supporters for their patience, and announced that the Pebble would get a few previously unannounced features, including a magnetometer and ambient light sensors. 

"Also, as many of you have speculated," Migicovsky wrote, "we can confirm that Pebble uses a magnetic charging cable. This was done to help achieve a 5ATM water resistance rating, perfect for running in the rain, skiing, swimming and washing dishes. And one last fun and useful tool – the accelerometer we’ve built into the watch allows you simply to tap or flick your wrist to turn on the backlight." 

For more tech news, follow us on Twitter: @CSMHorizonsBlog

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Pebble smartwatch, long delayed, set to ship on Jan. 23
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2013/0110/Pebble-smartwatch-long-delayed-set-to-ship-on-Jan.-23
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe