When Allerta's e-paper watch first landed on Kickstarter April 11th, there was no way to imagine the firestorm of backers this little smartwatch was going attract. Within just 48 hours — the Pebble hauled in over $2 million dollars and there appears to be no stopping the funding-frenzy driving this iPhone-friendly juggernaut.
With still 34 days remaining, the Pebble has attracted well over 18,000 backers, with most willing to pay $115 each for an "infinitely customizable" watch that connects to iPhone and Android smartphones using Bluetooth.
Pebble features a 1.26-inch 144x168-pixel black and white high-resolution e-paper display with backlight — but the real buzz surrounding this smartwatch is the ability to customize content using a designated iPhone app which enables the timepiece to run several "watchapps" simultaneously.
The clever wristwatch lets users control music playback, monitor running or cycling stats along with receiving incoming caller notifications, Facebook messages, email notifications, calendar alerts and the ability to change out watch face designs at will via Bluetooth. Pebble carries a built-in accelerometer, vibrating motor and a rechargeable battery expected to last more than seven days on one charge.
If the feature set were not already impressive enough — creators are also planning to release an open Software Development Kit (SDK) so anyone can design apps for Pebble. Even though it's not expected to be a dive watch, the Allerta team has just announced that backers can even expect Pebble to be waterproof enough to swim with when it ships later this summer.
With over a month remaining to raise production funding, its impossible to accurately guess how many more backers will pile-on to support this relatively simple, iOS comapatible device that lets iPhone do all the heavy lifting.
Since Allerta has already proved its technology chops with their InPulse Smartwatch, I'm reasonably confident that the Pebble will not fail to disappoint when it ultimately comes to market.
"We supported you from the very beginning with the inPulse; and we did that because you're doing what the large companies won't - innovate." one commenter wrote on the Kickstarter website.
My guess is that Pebble will pull in over $4.5 million before the wild crowd-sourced funding comes to a triumphant close. What's your guess?
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