The Pebble watch, in its few iterations, is the world’s most successful smartwatch by far. Now, in an exclusive interview with The Verge, Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky revealed that the company shipped its one millionth Pebble on December 31st of last year.
That’s more than double the number of watches the company had sold as of last spring, but it still is a small number when you factor in the size of the booming portable electronics market. Pebble renewed public interest in smart watches after its successful Kickstarter campaign in 2012 brought in $10.2 million, while all they were asking for was $100,000. Since then several big-name smartphone manufacturers have attempted to get in on the game with their own Android or Tizen based creations, including Motorola, Samsung, LG, Sony, and Asus. Pebble’s biggest competition this year, however, will come from the Apple Watch, which is rumored to have a launch date by April 2015.
To meet the challenge from its newer rivals, Migicovsky told The Verge that the company will introduce new products this year as well as a new software platform for its smartwatches. The CEO wouldn’t reveal details on what’s ahead but teased a new software platform that will make its watches somehow more distinct.
“We’ve found a new framework to use as an interaction model on the watch,” Migicovsky said, adding that the apps currently found on the Pebble won’t be the main focus. “It doesn’t look like what we have today, and it doesn’t look like what’s on your smartphone.”
In September, Pebble slashed the prices of its products, cutting the cost of its smartwatch to $99, while the Pebble Steel fell to $199. Still, what does it mean when the best smartwatch only sells a million? Is there even a smartwatch market at all? Leave your thoughts in the forum.
