By Binu Paul email: b.paul@mobilenapps.com | Jan 24, 2013 02:51 AM EST
The 'wonder watch' that impressed many at the recently concluded International CES is finally making its way into the hands of its Kickstarter backers.
In an official notification sent to its very first backers, Pebble said it has started shipping the first set of its e-paper watch for iPhone and Android to its earliest backers. However, the shipment will be less than 500 units, meaning the company will be partially fulfilling its CES promise of releasing 15,000 units on Jan. 23.
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Nonetheless, it's indeed a great step from the company behind this smartwatch. While Pebble remains to be the most successful Kickstarter project of all time, raising more than $10 million from nearly 70,000 backers; it should be noted that not everything is smooth and cool at the Pebble end. The company admitted in its announcement that it faces certain "kinks and issues" that need to be worked out.
Currently, the company is manufacturing roughly 800-1,000 Pebble watches per day and so, it seems quite a long way for Pebble to reach its full capacity of 2,400 per day. Pebble is building batches of one color at a time, starting with black.
"I realize that this is different than what I said before. While we would have liked to be able to ship out all the colors at the exact same time, it's proven to be impossible. We're doing our best to bring production of other colors on-line as soon as possible," the production notes said.
Meanwhile, Pebble has just released its iPhone app for the smartwatch with which the wearers will be able to have a dashboard right on their phone. According to The Next Web, the company said it submitted the iPhone app to the Apple App Store two weeks ago and now the app has arrived, just in time to coincide with the beginning of the smartwatch being shipped. The app is now available for free download in App Store.
The app enables users to connect their watch with other iDevices such as iPhone and iPod Touch via Bluetooth 4.0. It also notifies users of incoming calls, emails, and vibrations. According to TNW, it provides an iPhone dashboard for the device in addition to many other features such as:
- The app alerts users when software updates for their Pebble smartwatch is ready to be installed.
- It installs and removes custom watchfaces onto the wearer's Pebble.
- It sends ping test messages to the Pebble.
- The app helps the user troubleshoot issues.
Pebble announced that the Android app will go live on Google Play on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013.
Take a look at the Pebble factory here:
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