This week the team at Omate have let it be known that they’re aiming to be one of the first fully-functional wrist-based boomboxes in the world, not just one of the newest smartwatches on the market this upcoming season. Here in the latest entry in our extended interview session with Omate’s top minds, we’re speaking […]
Though the Omate TrueSmart smartwatch has only just been shown in is final form for the public, co-founder Nick N.M. Yap spoke with SlashGear this week about a wide open future for the group in all things wearable. Speaking up this week on the TrueSmart smartwatch initially, then on the company’s current wildly successful connection […]
Korean website Digital Times has reported that Samsung is already working on a sequel to its Galaxy Gear smartwatch, a bit of wearable technology that proved disappointing in certain aspects. The development is said to have started at the beginning of this month, and the Korean company hopes to launch it as early as the […]
This morning the folks at AT&T have announced that they’ll be first on the block with Samsung Galaxy Gear pre-orders, this being the latest in Samsung’s efforts to bring a smartwatch to the masses. Samsung begins its wearables journey (again) here with the Galaxy Gear in the United States on AT&T exclusively – though release […]
You can stop wondering when AT&T will let you plunk down cash for a Galaxy Gear: the carrier has just announced that it will start taking pre-orders for Samsung’s smartwatch at 12:01AM ET tomorrow, September 17th. AT&T hasn’t detailed pricing or a final release date, although Samsung has previously suggested that the Galaxy Gear should reach the US by October for $299. Given the pre-order timing, we wouldn’t be surprised if the Gear arrives shortly after the Galaxy Note 3.
Filed under: Peripherals, Wearables, Mobile, Samsung, AT&T
Via: AT&T (Twitter)
Source: AT&T
While the masses decide whether or not they’ll be slapping a smartwatch on their wrist this upcoming wearable computers season, the team behind Omate TrueSmart are hard at work on the details. This week SlashGear presents an extended interview with Omate’s own Nick N.M. Yap, one of three of the company’s founders and major supporter […]
This week the folks at Omate have released a series of photos as well as a sort of up-close handsy video of the TrueSmart smartwatch in what they’re suggesting will be the final working design. This device is still part of a KickStarter campaign, but has been funded well and above its original goal (surpassing […]
Smartwatches like Samsung’s Galaxy Gear and Sony’s multiple attempts to break the wearables market are trying too hard and missing the point, Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky says, arguing that simplicity is the right route to the wrist. “I think everyone is kind of ignoring the things that you need to do with a smartwatch” Kickstarter […]
Pebble is an unequivocal success story thus far — setting Kickstarter funding records and making its way to retail outlets. However, the road it’s taken hasn’t been been all smooth, and at TechCrunch Disrupt today, company CEO Eric Migicovsky spoke about Pebble’s beginnings and some of the challenges it faced as a hardware startup. Migicovsky said that he first started working on Pebble’s precursor five years ago, not because he thought it would become a business but because “it was something I wanted to have,” he said. That first prototype was essentially a hacked Arduino strapped to his wrist, and while it “didn’t work too well as a watch” due to poor battery life and performance, he got a lot of positive feedback from other folks who saw it. Those folks geeking out over that prototype is what convinced him to enter the smartwach business.
Founder of smartwatch startup Pebble Eric Migicovsky took the stage at Disrupt, interviewed by our own John Biggs. He addressed head on the recently revealed competition from smartphone giant Samsung, and talked about what Pebble does that no other competitors out there have necessarily nailed down, and why he thinks their approach will continue to prevail despite mounting interest from top-tier, established hardware makers.
Migicovsky said that everyone seems to be ignoring the reason that Pebble was a success to begin with, which mainly has to do with identifying use cases for a wearable device. He argued that a smartwatch should “flow into the background” of a user’s life, and that the way to convince people to put one on is to show them how it can be useful to their life, but at the same time essentially become a background process, rather than something that requires major changes in how you live on a daily basis.
Asked directly about competitors, Migicovsky was quick to point out that OEMs have been making smartwatches for years, including Samsung, LG, Sony, Motorola and many others. Once again, he argues that all those companies are ignoring the reasons that people are interested in smartwatches to begin with – they want something that will “mesh into your life,” have long battery life, and not have to be babied and coddled for fear of getting it wet or inadvertently smashing it up.
The overall vision for the Pebble is one of a “thin client,” Migicovsky says. “We think the best computer you have is the one sitting in your pocket,” he argues, referring to the smartphones most of us now carry. Those have great screens, touch input, 3G and 4G connectivity and more. There’s no need to replicate that, but instead the real opportunity is to build a control device not only for that phone, but for other connected devices in your life, too. He mentioned wrist-based thermostat control, as well as connection with bike sharing terminals, and pointed to the RunKeeper integration as a perfect example of how they envision Pebble slotting into people’s lives.
For those who haven’t tried it out, RunKeeper’s Pebble integration replaces the screen when you start the app and start a run from your phone, showing you distance travelled, pace and more. Ideally that’s how Pebble would work on a much broader basis, becoming contextually the most appropriate tool for whatever you’re doing, whenever you’re doing it.
That’s why when Biggs asked him about Pebble 2.0, or what the next-generation device would look like, Migicovsky demurred and said it’s the same hardware you currently have on your wrist. Software is the next stage for Pebble, he contends, with the ultimate aim being partnering with developers to build out that ecosystem and help Pebble work with plenty of sensor and new apps to become a more generally useful tool for any given context.
Migicovsky also dodged a second attempt to get details of next-gen hardware when Biggs framed a question in light of Apple’s rumored iWatch. The Pebble founder wouldn’t speculate as to how Pebble might have to change to compete with an Apple wearable, and reiterated that software is the future. Of course, it’s never good policy for a device maker with something currently on shelves to talk about next-generation products, but for now at least, Migicovsky and Pebble seem to be all about developing the software ecosystem to explore the full potential of what they’ve already built.
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