CES 2013: Kickstarter project Pebble smart watch to start shipping finally

Remember the Kickstarter project Pebble that took the Internet by storm? CES 2013 was the stage for the creators to announce that after a string of serious delays, the e-paper watch will finally start shipping this month.

The e-paper watch for Android and iOS will be shipped to Kickstarter backers starting January 23. Pebble had managed to raise $10 million on Kickstarter’s website, making it one of the most sponsored projects of all times. 

The Pebble Watch to soon ship

The e-paper display smart watch that can sync with apps on Android and iPhone reached the landmark within six days of its launch. The watch syncs with your phone via Bluetooth and alerts you about incoming calls, text messages, emails etc. The vibration notification system works for other apps on your phone as well, like calendar alerts, Facebook messages, Twitter, weather alerts, alarms etc. If there is an app that is not there, you can simple download the Pebble SDK and with some basic C programming knowledge, it should be possible to develop your own app.

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The watch features a 1.26-inch black and white e-paper display  with 144 x 168 pixels. The smart watch has four buttons, Bluetooth 2.1, 3-axis accelerometer and a small vibrating motor. You can install customized watch faces to give it a different look every day, quite similar to the iPod nano.

Kickstarter, the platform where Pebble made its debut, is a crowd funding site for creative projects and a meeting place for new ideas, start-ups etc. that cover a wide genre right from indie films, food, music, comics, video games to technology. The average user, and not big companies, back up a project on Kickstarter. People put in set amounts of money behind a project. If the project garners a pre-defined amount, the project will take off. For those who have funded the project, the devices/services will be available first, as sort of a reward system.

Pebble, following that set rule, will be available to Kickstarter patrons first starting this month. This will include a whopping 85,000 orders in all. Pebble will be trying to honour these orders within six to eight weeks at the production rate of 15,000 watches per week. Later, Pebble will start shipping to non-Kickstarter pre-orders too. The watch is retailing for $150 (Rs. 8,250 approx.)