The Pebble Time smart watch launch on the Kickstarter looks set to break records thanks to some smart marketing. The new, thinner smart watch boasting impressive battery life smashed its $500,000 funding goal on the crowdfunding site where Pebble started out in just 17 minutes.
Pebble launched its first smart watch on Kickstarter in 2012 where it received $10,266,845 in pledges and, according to company founder Eric Migicovsky, jump-started a whole new industry. Migicovsky said the Pebble Time is being launched on the crowdfunding site "so that early supporters can be the first to get the next-generation device."
The hype surrounding the new Pebble smart watch has been building since the company posted a countdown clock on its site late last week and then leaked a photo of the new device. At the time of writing the Pebble Time has already been funded to the tune of $4.4 million in just a few hours. The device looks set to surpass its predecessor and most likely become the highest-funded project ever on Kickstarter, a title currently held by the "Coolest Cooler," which received $13,285,226 in pledges.
Pebble Time will have a color e-paper screen and a microphone that will allow you to leave short voice messages for your contacts.
The promotional video claims the watch will have seven days of battery life in a single charge but does not go into any of the technical details. If the watch could last for anything near that length it would be a significant achievement as battery life has been a significant problem for smart watch manufacturers in the past. Speculators are already suggesting that the upcoming Apple Watch will struggle to stay charged for a day.
The new watch will be 20 percent thinner than its predecessor. It comes with a smart accessories port which the firm hopes will encourage developers to build hardware for it, but does not have a touchscreen interface. Instead, buttons on the side of the device allow you to scroll through messages, alerts and time screens in a time-based interface unoriginally titled "Timeline."
Unlike the Google or Apple watches, the Pebble can work across operating systems with both Apple and Android smart phones. Initial backers could preorder the device for $159, but those are already sold out. There are still some remaining at $179 dollars. All orders will be shipped by May when the device will go on general sale for $199.
