Ramp-Up to the Apple Watch

The new Pebble Time smartwatch launched on Kickstarter and has raised $5 million dollars in half a day.

Fast Company is labeling it as “the battle” against Apple and Andoid smartwatches.

Not quite. At least not for Apple.

The Apple Watch is going to start at $349 and go up $10,000 (at least) for the 18K gold version. Pebble’s watch is under $200.

While I’m sure there’s quite a bit of overlap between people who backed the Pebble Time and people who want an Apple Watch the target markets are different. Pebble Time sales won’t affect Apple Watch sales very much the same way Honda Civic buyers don’t influence BMW buyers—even if those BMW buyers are buying “entry level” models.

My first impression of the Pebble Time is how awful the hardware looks. My second impression after watching the video is how fun and thoughful the interface and animations are.