Background and Identification
Pebble smartwatches deliver common smartwatch features, such as activity and sleep tracking, while also providing more advanced capabilities. Pebble smartwatches compete with giants of the smartwatch industry, like Apple, Garmin, and Samsung but, impressively, they were funded from a Kickstarter campaign. The Kickstarter campaign ran from April 11 of 2012 to May 18th of 2012. The project raised $10.3 million, which made it the most-funded Kickstarter project yet. Pebble first started shipping watches to Kickstarter supporters in January of 2013.
The second generation of Pebble smartwatches was launched in 2015. This series was again funded through Kickstarter. The campaign raised $20.3 million, which broke Kickstarter site records. Unfortunately, in 2016 Pebble shut down their production due to financial issues and refunded their Kickstarter supporters. The company announced its complete shutdown in December of 2016. The company’s intellectual property was purchased by Fitbit. While official Pebble support ended in 2016, Pebble smartwatches have had a notable afterlife, and Pebble smartwatches have since been supported by the Rebble site.
Pebble smartwatches have thin circular or rectangular watch displays that connect to wristbands with buckle straps. The watch face is generally black or silver, and the wristbands come in a range of color options.