'Pebble Time' Kickstarter Gained Momentum Following Apple Watch Event

The record-breaking Kickstarter for the new Pebble Time smartwatch gained some momentum off of Apple's "Spring Forward" event last week, reported TechCrunch over the weekend.

The crowd-funding campaign brought in on average $6,000 per hour the Sunday before the big Apple Watch event, a statistic which rose to $10,000 per hour as the event happened on Monday, March 9 and leveled off at $16,000 per hour on March 10.

Pebble Time
Speaking on the matter, Pebble CEO and founder Eric Migicovsky said the Apple Watch event doubled the rate of contribution to the Pebble Time Kickstarter, but as TechCrunch pointed out, it was closer to nearly tripling the campaign's hourly rate.

Apple's entry into the smartwatch market no doubt sparked interest in users interested in a wearable device, but perhaps looking for a cheaper alternative, with the ability to connect with Android phones or have a longer-lasting battery life. That train of thought appears to be unsurprising to Migicovsky and the Pebble team, who expected a boost coming off of the Apple Watch event.

“Apple’s event this week caused a nice spike in support for us, as anticipated,” Migicovsky told TechCrunch. “When the biggest company in the world enters your market, that’s the kind of validation you can only dream of. Ultimately the more awareness for smartwatches, and the more choice for consumers, the better for everyone. 2015 is going to be an extraordinarily exciting year.”

The Pebble Time Kickstarter began on February 24, and reached its goal of $500,000 in just under twenty minutes, allowing the company to introduce a more formal option in the Pebble Time Steel one week later. The campaign currently has about 72,000 backers with just over $18.5 million pledged and eleven days to go until its completion.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 10
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
m4 macbook air pink

Apple Now Selling Refurbished M4 MacBook Air Models

Friday June 13, 2025 3:34 pm PDT by
Apple today added M4 MacBook Air models to its refurbished store in the United States, making the latest MacBook Air devices available at a discounted price for the first time since they launched earlier this year. Both 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models are available, with Apple offering multiple capacities and configurations. The refurbished devices are discounted by approximately 15...

Top Rated Comments

avanpelt Avatar
134 months ago
Why is Pebble still using Kickstarter? Don't they have R&D as part of their normal operating budget? Are they having difficulties finding traditional investors? While the money they've been pledged so far is admirable, it seems odd to me that they're still using crowdfunding at this point.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Robert.Walter Avatar
134 months ago
What is the price point of this product?

If I divide donations by funders, I get a hair over 250$.

If this is the price, it would seem that this product is overpriced for anything outside the Android market. For someone already possessing a compatable iPhone, why not spend 100$ more and get the refined package and richer feature set of the Watch?
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rob25255 Avatar
134 months ago
I actually get a lot of use from my pebble but despite the naysayers am going to preorder the  watch. Here's my thoughts http://bit.ly/1LbxaXp (http://opinion8td.com/2015/03/14/convenience/)
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
enigmatut Avatar
134 months ago
price-points

What is the price point of this product?

If I divide donations by funders, I get a hair over 250$.

If this is the price, it would seem that this product is overpriced for anything outside the Android market. For someone already possessing a compatable iPhone, why not spend 100$ more and get the refined package and richer feature set of the Watch?

As noted on the Kickstarter page, the Pebble Time retail price will be $199 and the Pebble Time Steel will be $299 (after the campaign). The original Pebble is now $99 and the original Pebble Steel is $199, fwiw.
So, the "top" new Pebble is 50 bucks less than the entry-level aluminum :apple:Watch, but with the Pebble Time Steel you get 10-day battery and cross-platform compatibility. Various blogs have already discussed the pros and cons between the two, and it really just boils down to preference and to which features you give weight. I prefer longer battery and always-on, which all Pebbles have, so I'm keeping my original Pebble Steel and adding a Pebble Time.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kissaragi Avatar
134 months ago
Why is Pebble still using Kickstarter? Don't they have R&D as part of their normal operating budget? Are they having difficulties finding traditional investors? While the money they've been pledged so far is admirable, it seems odd to me that they're still using crowdfunding at this point.

Yes its a pretty disgusting abuse of the kickstarter idea in my opinion. They are using it for advertising and to line their pockets.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GizmoDVD Avatar
134 months ago
Why is Pebble still using Kickstarter? Don't they have R&D as part of their normal operating budget? Are they having difficulties finding traditional investors? While the money they've been pledged so far is admirable, it seems odd to me that they're still using crowdfunding at this point.

Its the start of KS demise. It should be for people who need funding - not a company which already (apparently) has the watches close to ready to go and just wants cash early.

If Pebble was launching a totally new product line I could kinda see a KS. But this is simply Version 2.0.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)