I Just completed my first week with the Pebble watch. Over that week I spent time looking into it capability, browsing available apps, answering questions from various people curious about what I was sporting on my wrist, and trying to figure out how it factors into my day-today and what role Smart Watches may or not play in the near future.
I have been familiar with the Pebble for a while, it is considered the first start watch launched from a successful Kickstarter campaign. The Pebble works with both Apple and Android devices. Pebble states that they do not aim to be a pone replacement but rather a companion.
A friend my the observation that the Pebble is a supplementary screen for you smart phone and I think that is the perfect way to describe it. I can read text messages, check Yelp, read Facebook notifications without having to take my phone out of my pocket. A light vibration alerts me that the watch has received new incoming information. Pebble offers hundreds of free watch faces and applications for download.
Coincidently, the day after I received my watch Pebble opened a Kickstarter for their next generation Pebble called Time. Within 24 hours their funding goal of $500,000 was squashed, receiving pledges of more than $5,000,000, proof that there is a lot of interest in the technology.
The watch is pretty unobtrusive, su unless so I have been surprised by the number of people who have noticed it and inquired what it was. I still have trouble trying to articulate what it is and it’s value, possibly because I am trying to figure the answer for myself. It is for this reason way even though I can understand the hype around the forthcoming Apple Watch I have some trepidation about its long term success.
As a developer, it is fun to get my hands on new technologies and I I want to look into Pebbles cloud-based development tool. I am hoping that after wearing it for a while I will be inspired with an idea for an application.
