Pebble Smartwatch Trying to Gain Legitimacy With FCC Approval

By Catherine Cai
published

The Pebble has gained FCC approval. Hopefully this means that it'll finally ship out to project backers.

The Pebble E-paper Smartwatch made quite a splash when it was first announced on Kickstarter, making such a successful pitch that it managed to raise $1 million in the first few hours. At the end of the funding period, it raised over $10 million, blowing its goal of $100K completely out of the water.

However, Pebble backers are becoming concerned as to whether or not the watch will ever become a reality or end up as vaporware. After all, backing a project in Kickstarter is a bit of a risk—there's no contract that fundraisers have to sign to guarantee backers the project that the backers actually wanted. The Pebble has missed two of its deadlines, first by September, and the next before Christmas.

Perhaps to give backers a renewed sense of optimism and relief, Pebble's received approval from the FCC for its device. The documents that the company sent to the FCC include a manual and photos of the e-paper watch's innards. Hopefully, this is a sign that Pebble's finally ready to make its way to the homes of eager backers who've dropped over $99 for the product.

Catherine Cai
11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • sacre
    and with the 10 million, they will start production and pocket the other 9 million.

    Goes to show me being an Aviation Maintenance Engineer was the wrong damn choice.. should have been a computer engineer, somewhere along those lines.
    Reply
  • unksol
    If you were dumb enough to kickstart this in a smartphone age you deserve to have your money stolen. But hey they wanted 100K, you gave them 10x as much for nothing so it would be out in September 2012.... Wait what do you mean it is 2013?!?!?
    Reply
  • vertigo_2000
    unksol, that's some bad math... they got 100x as much, not 10x. $10 million / $100k = 100.

    I agree with your statement, just not with your calculation.

    In this day and age where everyone 10 years and older has a cell phone, a fancy new kind of watch is kind of pointless. On that note, I feel naked without my watch on.
    Reply
  • unksol
    9441538 said:
    unksol, that's some bad math... they got 100x as much, not 10x. $10 million / $100k = 100.

    I agree with your statement, just not with your calculation.

    In this day and age where everyone 10 years and older has a cell phone, a fancy new kind of watch is kind of pointless. On that note, I feel naked without my watch on.

    I'll give you that, but I have been at work.for a few days and am adjusting back to daylight. Plus. You know. New years eve... And getting raped on taxes in 8 hours due to an inept goverment of rich people.so...

    100x as much as was asked to.deliver something to PRODUCTION 4 months ago.... And NOTHING yet... there's other people with egg on their face besides me. lol
    Reply
  • albii
    unksolIf you were dumb enough to kickstart this in a smartphone age you deserve to have your money stolen. But hey they wanted 100K, you gave them 10x as much for nothing so it would be out in September 2012.... Wait what do you mean it is 2013?!?!?
    I honestly don't think you know what pebble is, for those that don't, and are thinking like this guy, i'll explain in simple terms. Pebble is a watch that can use your smartphone through Bluetooth to make it do specific things, read messages, caller id, change tracks, gps.. and some other stuff
    Reply
  • unksol
    9441578 said:
    I honestly don't think you know what pebble is, for those that don't, and are thinking like this guy, i'll explain in simple terms. Pebble is a watch that can use your smartphone through Bluetooth to make it do specific things, read messages, caller id, change tracks, gps.. and some other stuff

    So to be clear. Its an expensive ugly calculator looking watch (never mind no one wears watches). That connects to your smartphone. And allows EXTREMELY limited input and display. (and drains your battery). Because you are to lazy to reach in your pocket?

    Yea. It does EXACTLY what I think it does.

    I don't care that its a bad idea. I don't care that its over priced for basic functionality. I don't care that its a niche market. If people want to spend money on useless stuff that is fine.

    The fact is they said we'll have product in market in September for 100K... Suckers gave them 10 million for a bad idea. and they have no product in 2013. Its pretty funny

    Reply
  • nitrium
    Much worse than it being late, is that there is already a watch released in the meantime that does most if not all that this watch was supposed to do. http://www.imwatch.it
    Reply
  • doive1231
    Kickstarter should disallow investment once the goal amount has been reached. The proposers should reapply with a more realistic amount if they see they will exceed their funding amount as investors should expect money to be spent on the project. Or investors could just choose not to invest once the goal amount is passed.
    Reply
  • richarduk
    nitriumMuch worse than it being late, is that there is already a watch released in the meantime that does most if not all that this watch was supposed to do. http://www.imwatch.it
    Yes this has happened a few times.
    Reply
  • Damn, I need to finish getting my kickstarter project together, I was aiming to raise $200k, but if apparently I can ask for $200k and get $20million, there's no time to waste, ROFL...
    Reply