The Pebble watch has now raised more than $8.5 million on Kickstarter and, with 13 days to go, my prediction of $10 million seems within reach.
One of the appeals of the product is that you will be able to have all manner of micro-functional apps displayed on it's little e-paper face and sync them with your iPhone or Android device. This week, fitness tracking app maker RunKeeper announced that they will be the first app to be bundled with the watch when it ships in a few months.
RunKeeper's Jason Jacobs writes in a company blog post, "Well, when Pebble approached us about integrating with RunKeeper, we loved the idea. We know that many of you are always looking for ways to make your fitness tracking easier, and with Pebble integration, you won’t ever have to pull the phone out of your pocket or armband – you can just see and do everything you need right from your watch (which connects with the phone via bluetooth). Not to mention that quite a few of you have been requesting it in our support forum as well."
According to Pebble, "RunKeeper has more than 10 million users, and it was one of the highest grossing health & fitness apps in the iPhone App Store in 2010." RunKeeper is currently available for both iPhone and Android.
“We welcome RunKeeper to the Pebble app family and we’re flattered that they are our first app partner,” said Eric Migicovsky, of Pebble Technology. “One of the most exciting things about Pebble is that anyone will be able to build apps for the watch, which is going to result in new capabilities and functionality that we haven’t even thought of yet.”
The company also reports that they "will release an open software development kit (SDK) in August, enabling even more applications to be developed for the Pebble platform. A watchapp directory will be launched later in 2012 to provide a distribution method for all Pebble apps."
The next million dollar question is, will Microsoft pay to have Pebble and its apps be compatible with the WindowsPhone too? That would be a win all around.
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