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Pebble
For two years, the record set by the original Pebble smartwatch on Kickstarter was the gold standard for crowdfunding, until a bizarre high-tech cooler stole the crown last summer. Now it seems that Pebble is on the way to reclaiming its throne.
In just a few days, the latest smartwatch from the company, called the Pebble Time, has already surpassed the $10.2 million raised on Kickstarter by the original, and is now gunning for the record-setting $13.2 million campaign by the ” Coolest Cooler,” which has an 18-volt battery-powered rechargeable blender built in.
As we learned in CNET’s hands-on , the new Pebble has a metal frame and a body that’s smaller, lighter and thinner than the original, and now comes with a color display. While the smartphone world is getting crowded with offerings from Samsung, Motorola and the upcoming Apple Watch, there still is clearly demand for Pebble, which runs its own operating system and gets seven days per charge.
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Pebble Time is exclusive to Kickstarter and backing the campaign at $159 (about £103, AU$205) or more is the only way to get in line for one, with expected delivery in May.
With 29 days still to go in the campaign, it seems that setting a new Kickstarter record is less a matter of “if” but more a question of when and how much.
With Pebble on the way to re-establishing itself as the clear king of Kickstarter, we have to wonder what the next crowdfunding sensation will be to again challenge the original people’s smartwatch. To me, the answer is clear — a smartwatch with an attachable daquiri maker is going to make someone tens of millions of dollars someday.
