

Pebble smartwatch breaks record for Kickstarter funding - anons2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17740574

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eykanal
There is no good reason why the article couldn't include a link to the
Kickstarter page in the actual article text, preferably at the top where they
first mention it. Are they that worried that people will leave and not come
back?

Shame on you, BBC. Shame on you.

~~~
OzzyB
I don't disagree, but I think it's probably because the BBC can't be seen to
directly promote a commerical product?

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trafficlight
That's the entire point of the article...

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OzzyB
... I think there's a fine line between newsworthy-news and "here's the link
to buy the watch!" that they would rather not cross, and thus err on the side
of caution.

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JVIDEL
I really don't see why this is a surprise: unlike many other projects this one
shows a more or less finished product that works as advertised, not a "idea on
paper" or pie-in-the-sky, and you can get the watch by backing the project, a
win-win situation.

In a way this was more like a presale for the watches, which is not a bad idea
considering these guys could've gone broke if they had built the watches and
not sold enough to make their investment back.

This is a good way to test the waters before getting in.

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rollypolly
I love Kickstarter, but I hope these kinds of success stories don't start
attracting fraudsters.

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victork2
It might only be me but I think more or less everybody is (or will be) a
fraudster on Kickstarter. Before downvoting me, please read below...

I don't mean that people willingly steal the money / promise impossible things
but the very nature of Kickstarter pushes you to do that. Think about an
election, what's the biggest problem of politicians nowadays and why people
are very angry at them ? Answer: broken promises. Because you need to attract
votes you will need to make strong, nearly impossible claims in order to be
seen, no matter if they are truthful or not. That's one of the weakness of a
democratic election. If you transpose that to Kickstarter people have to
"editorialize" their propositions and product features because they need to be
seen. A funding pledge is like a vote and will very likely create the same
dynamic as in an democratic elective system.

I don't buy the Kickstarter Kool Aid from a consumer point of view, because I
think there is a lot of deceptions ahead and it has a "mob-like" mentality
that typically develops around websites like Reddit or Hacker News (and you
can see here just how strong kickstarter resonates in minds with a post every
other day). From a developer point of view that's way better because you can
fund your projects on (almost) thin air, however I can foresee that honest
developers that will try to follow their claims will have a hard time
completing their projects.

The benefit of funding via VC or other non-democratic mean is you have HARD
deadlines, business plans, your money is on the table, it's not just an idea
thrown in the air which you hope the wind will catch. I strongly believe that
product innovation and creation will remain an aristocratic process.

I would be delighted if somebody can prove me wrong!

~~~
mcantor
Isn't every successful Kickstarter project a counterexample to your point?

~~~
georgemcbay
How many of them are successful, though? Meaning... what's the ratio of
projects that upon completion would be rated successful by the backers
relative to the total number of projects that met their funding goal?

For the art projects on Kickstarter, I'd assume that ratio is pretty good, but
for consumer electronic devices and software I'd assume it to be very low,
though of course I'm just speculating based on the small sample set of
projects there that I've ever been interested in.

~~~
calloc
I've backed quite a few projects on Kickstarter, out of the 17 I have backed,
so far only one has been a real disappointment (Juicies), 5 are still building
their products/shipping in the near future (and are looking good, posting
updates, I am confident in them), I have received 6 of my awards for projects
I have backed.

So far I have been happy with the projects I have backed and received my
reward for, and I've been happy with the progress shown on the other products
I have kickstarted. Ultimately it is a gamble whether or not you get something
back for your money. At this time I feel like I am giving someone money to try
to get their dream goal fulfilled, and worst case I don't get anything in
return but they have oodles of experience on what can go wrong and why, and
how they could fix it the next time around or what they could do better.
Sometimes believing in something/someone is better than just dismissing it
outright, especially when it is just money. If you can't afford to lose it (or
gamble it) then really you shouldn't be putting that money into projects on
Kickstarter you should be using it to pay the bills.

Does is suck when you lose money? Absolutely, but it hasn't stopped me from
actively backing more projects. Juicies was my first project I backed, if I
had stopped there because of the guys failure to actually complete in time
then I would have missed out on helping friends from college and I would have
missed out on awesome rewards from many of the other projects I have listed
below who did come through and get me my award.

That being said, the only production of physical goods I have backed were
(I've also backed a couple of games/art/shows):

Not Funded yet:

Pebble: [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-
paper...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-
for-iphone-and-android)

Waiting on reward/Funded:

Mobilemount Suction Kickstand:
[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/674303746/mobilemountsuc...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/674303746/mobilemountsuction-
cup-mount-and-kickstand-for-pho)

Twine: [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/supermechanical/twine-
li...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/supermechanical/twine-listen-to-
your-world-talk-to-the-internet)

Elevation Dock: [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hop/elevation-dock-
the-b...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hop/elevation-dock-the-best-
dock-for-iphone)

Received Reward:

CEE: [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/itdaniher/cee-the-usb-
an...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/itdaniher/cee-the-usb-analog-
electronics-multi-tool)

Prop: <http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/makecollab/the-prop>

Revision 1 - Drafting Themed Cards:
[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/onefreehour/revision-1-d...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/onefreehour/revision-1-drafting-
themed-playing-cards)

Pulse Sensor: [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1342192419/pulse-
sensor-...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1342192419/pulse-sensor-an-
open-source-heart-rate-sensor-that)

The Present: <http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scottthrift/the-present>
(Although, I didn't opt for a clock, I opted for "Something" as a reward
level)

Disappointed/Given up hope on ever receiving reward:

Juicies: [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/laudowicz/juicies-
colorf...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/laudowicz/juicies-colorful-
cables-for-ipod-iphone-and-ipad) (My first project)

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TwistedWeasel
FTA: "The site's first $1m project was Double Fine Adventure"

Double Fine Adventure wasn't the first Kickstarter project to hit $1M, it was
the elevation dock a short time earlier.

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pokoleo
The founders are graduates from the University of Waterloo. :D

(+VeloCity)

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treme
putting DENT in universe. way to go guys.

