Smartwatch manufacturer Pebble wrapped up its third crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter and the final count shows poorer results than expected.
The company scored $12,779,843 in preorders, with a few upcoming products on the list, namely a refresh to the Time Round line, the Pebble 2, the Time 2 and a small Spotify streaming box.
For a bit of perspective, Pebble raised $10 million after its 2012 campaign, and it reached more than $20 million during last year's crowdfunding effort.
In February 2015, the company reached the $10 million mark in only two days' time, but this year the same figure was reached twice as hard. One main reason for the deceleration in demand seems to be the lowered enthusiasm concerning the new Pebble watches.
This is far from suggesting that Pebble will fall into a downward spiral. It might just be that Pebble owners are satisfied with their current devices and plan to upgrade in 2017, not this year. The company did not release any official statement after the Kickstarter campaign ended.
Keep in mind that Pebble faces dire competition from rivals such as Google, Apple and Fitbit, yet the venture managed to sell more than 70,000 smartwatches and 20,000 little streaming boxes. The latter is especially notable, as this is the first time Pebble sells such a device.
A quick note on the features of Pebble 2 And Time 2: both smartwatches are crafted to support the users' health-related habits. As runners constitute the majority of clients, the two devices come equipped with heart rate monitors as well as music connectivity. This allows users to pump up the volume from their favorite playlist while they jog.
Additional advantages of the trackers reside in their capacity to keep your schedule and serve notifications. You can optimize them to remind you of your health goals, with an increasing number of simple tasks being available through the connectivity feature.
Both Time 2 And Pebble 2 play nice with iOS and Android.
The major differences between the two devices lie in the battery life and display size. Time 2 can last up to 10 days on one recharge, while Pebble 2 has a battery life of seven days. It's worth mentioning that Time 2's display is 53 percent larger than the one on Pebble 2.
We look forward to seeing how Pebble fares in the international smartwatch competition, and time will show whether or not the $12.8 million was enough to keep the company afloat.
A number of 66,673 backers pledged their support in the latest campaign for Pebble's gadgets.
