The Pebble watch finally started shipping yesterday, but only in limited quantities. Only about 500 units have been shipped to early Kickstarter backers and, for now, only the black model is being manufactured.
At its press event at CES in January, the company promised that the watch would start shipping on January 23 and, despite the number of units being shipped being well below the 85,000 sold during the funding phase, it has lived up to that promise.
If you haven’t heard yet, the Pebble smartwatch is, basically, a very smart watch. It uses Bluetooth to display information from your iPhone or Android phone. It uses a custom operating system that supports third-party apps for customizing its functions. The Pebble is waterproof, has a 7-day rechargeable battery, a 12.6-inch display and it’s available in a number of different colors.
The first shipment has been limited to 500 because of a documentation issue that has more watches stuck at the airport. The company hasn’t been able to reach its target of making 2,400 units per day on the assembly line, and is currently making between 800 and 1,000 watches a day.
On the Kickstarter website, the Pebble team explained they were limiting production to only black models for now since it was the most popular choice and being able to “ship out all the colours at the exact same time [has] proven to be impossible.” The company plans to start manufacturing other colors before finishing with the black ones.
The companion app for iPhone is also available on the App Store for free. It installs and removes customer apps from the Pebble watch, manages software updates, and more.
Kickstarter backers will be the first to get a Pebble watch, but anyone else interested in getting one can pre-order it from the website for US$150.
Image Credit: Kickstarter
