
Pebble has recaptured the top spot for most-funded project on Kickstarter - wifera
http://www.cnet.com/news/pebble-time-watch-most-funded-project-ever-on-kickstarter/
======
diego_moita
It is ironic how Pebble looks a lot more like an Apple product than the
AppleWatch itself.

Apple made a product that aligns with its long term strategies but delivers
very poorly the most fundamental and essential functionality. The AppleWatch
has short battery life, its screen is not always on, is not waterproof, its
interface is not intuitive... And what we get in return? You can send your
heartbeat through bluetooth and has lots of cool straps.

It reminds me the feature-bloated products that Microsoft used to make. They'd
do everything but fail at the essential.

One thing Jobs was famous for was trimming the superfluous in order to get the
essential well done. It is clear that the AppleWatch could get a lot from
Jobs.

~~~
Someone1234
I completely agree. I'd take this new Pebble Time or the Moto 360 as an "Apple
Watch" over what Apple actually produced.

To be honest the Apple Watch looks about as clunky as Samsung's attempts
(Galaxy Gear) but Samsung shipped a year and a half before Apple, and Motorola
about a six months.

I admire Apple's advertising machine, they can sell anything. I think the
Apple Watch proves that point. A $350 ($100 more than anyone else) fugly watch
that was behind its competitors even before it shipped.

Does anyone here actually own one? What do you think?

~~~
superdude
You think the Pebble Time has a better design than the Apple Watch? The Pebble
looks pretty similar but with a bigger bezel. The Apple Watch doesn't go on
sale until April 24.

------
keithwhor
Is that really a fair comparison? The Pebble Time kickstarter campaign was
just a pre-order portal in disguise --- it wasn't really a "true" crowdfunding
campaign.

~~~
akerl_
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_scotsman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_scotsman)

What facet of being "true" crowdfunding did they not satisfy?

~~~
Domenic_S
1) They easily could have raised all the capital they needed

2) They're already a successful company

~~~
forrestthewoods
1) Crowdfunded dollars are better than VC dollars.

2) Most large crowdfunding campaigns are from already successful companies.

------
djloche
They didn't need to release through Kickstarter, but this was a nice gesture
from Pebble to offer their products to Kickstarter backers at a discount and
priority (backers get their Pebble Time watches before it goes to retail).

It is also a huge marketing success in getting their brand out there. They
properly framed themselves as the underdog with a superior product vs Apple.

~~~
UniZero
_this was a nice gesture from Pebble to offer their products to Kickstarter
backers at a discount and priority_

The Kickstarter page says the standard watch will cost $199 retail - yet the
official website is advertising it for $99 |
[https://getpebble.com/shop](https://getpebble.com/shop)

Am I misunderstanding something here?

~~~
azernik
That's $99 for the two-year-old first version of the watch. The Pebble Time
will likely cost much more at retail.

------
zyxley
I honestly wonder how many of the Pebble Time backers are people who initially
got hyped up over the Apple Watch, then decided they didn't want to deal with
a watch with only 18 hours battery life.

~~~
Decade
For me, it was because Pebble created a reputation as a hacker-friendly watch,
as opposed to Apple and Google's closed gardens.

Then I looked more into the Pebble, and discovered that it's a closed garden
every bit as restrictive as Apple and Google, only with more distance between
the walls. So, I canceled my order.

In particular, from the Terms of Use[0]:

Section II, paragraph 2, sentence 2: Do not reverse-engineer anything in the
Pebble,

Section II, paragraph 2, sentence 3: Do not learn from Pebble to create
anything,

Section III, paragraph 2, point 12: Do not say bad things about Pebble,

Section III, paragraph 2, point 13: Do not overload the Pebble servers, even
accidentally,

and Section XIV, sentence 8: If the terms of service are illegal, then act
like they are legal anyway.

[0][https://auth.getpebble.com/terms_of_use](https://auth.getpebble.com/terms_of_use)

~~~
wvenable
I completely and obviously violated their SDK terms of service and for that
they sent me a few T-shirts and other Pebble swag.

~~~
Decade
And Mark Russinovich got an executive job at Microsoft. That doesn't make the
Windows license(s) any more palatable.

------
legohead
This is old news already. And this is the second shoddy C|NET article on the
front page today (the other one being the quantum mechanics article). Seems
kind of fishy to me!

------
Sevzinn
There was some talk that they did this for publicity and would have no problem
getting that kind of money and more from traditional sources.

~~~
JonFish85
Of course they did. This is a two-birds-with-one-stone situation, I imagine:
"free" money (don't have to give up any equity) and free marketing at the same
time. It's win-win for them.

------
dxhdr
Doesn't even come close to the largest crowd-funded project Star Citizen:
[http://www.wired.com/2015/03/fans-dropped-77m-guys-buggy-
hal...](http://www.wired.com/2015/03/fans-dropped-77m-guys-buggy-half-built-
game/?mbid=social_fb)

