Pebble Makes Ripples in the Smart Phone Industry

Google's Project Glass

I love technology.  What can I say, I'm a millennial.  I believe that through advances in technology and improved human-computer interactions, productivity can be increased by the tenfold.  I am the kind of guy who wants to wear a computer on my body in a Google Glass type of way.  Sometimes when I express my willingness to accept technology though, I feel like I am distinguishing myself from the norm.

Technology is moving fast.  How fast? Exponentially!  The law of accelerating returns is a way of explaining that the returns of technology (productivity) has been increasing at a continually faster rate every year.

Rate of Data Transmission over years

To put that in perspective, look at the graph to the left.  This shows the speed of data transmission as it has increased since the use of Morse Code in 1940.  Not only is data being transmitted faster than ever before, but also the speed at which it is transmitted is increasing faster than ever before, therefore we have never lived in a time where we have been witnessing this much technological change.

For the people who can keep up with this change, this is great.  Most of my friends are easily able to keep up with their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat accounts and a good number also keep up with Pinterest, Vine.  The kids that I am talking about walk around everywhere with a smartphone in their pocket and keeping up with different sites and apps is really not so difficult.   I get an alert when I get a snap, I leave my Facebook page up in the background to my homework, I look at Twitter when I'm bored; it's very natural.  But for my parents, not so much, and they are the ones with the real money.

So, is technological development going to be restricted to items that are cheap or free for their users?  None of those social media sites I mentioned cost me a dime.  A product like Google Glasses however would cost me, and I would likely not be able to afford it. I, and others, am starting to see my smartphone as a necessity however another device to connect to my smartphone would just be an accessory and no matter how cool or useful it is, I wouldn't be able to dish out the extra 200 dollars to buy an extra device I don't need.   My parents would be able to dish out that kind of money, but they probably aren't going to buy into a wearable device like the heads-up-display that Google is working on(because they don't want to look like the Borgs from Star Trek).

So my question is, what happens now?  Do we have to just wait for 7 years or so while my generation gets a little older and a little richer?  Well there is one company who has another idea in mind.  A company called Pebble Technology is currently cloud-funding a digital watch called Pebble.  The watch, which currently can only be pre-ordered, costs $150.00 and contains an accelerometer, a vibrating motor, three buttons and an E-paper display that shows texts, caller ID, email, and current running apps.

Pebble's Kickstarter page

Pebble Technology, a company based out of Palo Alto, CA is funding through a crowd-funding website called kickstarter.  The idea is that product developers put there product on the website with a video explaining what it is.  Other people then give money to back the product (usually the backers receive a pre-order of whatever it is that they are backing in return).  The Pebble watch is number one on the list of the most successful Kickstarter projects ever.  Pebble Technology set a goal of $100,000 in 31 days.  The 31 days are up and they are at $10,266,845.00!  That is a lot of excitement over a product that hasn't even been market tested yet.

So why is this watch so successful?  I think part of the reason is that because they are going after the right audience.  Pebble doesn't specify it's intended customer but it looks to me like the product is made with people adults in mind.  There are a few reasons why I am saying this.  One is that its a watch.  According to a survey from British research company Mintel, one in seven people consider watches completely unnecessary and that number increases significantly for people under 26.  I hardly ever see people wear watches in the halls of my high school (our phones tell us what time it is).  So that old-fashioned idea of wearing a watch is more comfortable to adults than kids.

The other reason that I think Pebble is made for adults is the types of apps that have been developed for it so far.  They haven't had the chance to write all the software necessary for the watch but among the dozen apps Pebble technology has already made is an app to support cycling, a golf range meter, and a step counter.  I actually love golf and find that to be a useful app but that's the first app you make? To me that looks like an attempted sell to the businessmen, the people with enough money to afford to golf on the weekends. and also enough money to spend on a watch to improve their game.

I am ecstatic about the success of Pebble.  Like I said, I can't afford to buy a Pebble, but I love the fact that people will start to wear them because it is the start of a new market that could bring huge advances in human-computer interaction.  There are also a lot of rumors circulating about an iWatch; it's really the same idea as the Pebble, except Apple hasn't actually said anything about it existing or not. I think many of us will be watching closely to see how this plays out and what it means for the smart phone industry.  The idea of carrying a mini computer with us at all times will certainly remain, but how we use those computers could change drastically in the next few years. Whose excited?