Pebble Chief Predicts We Won’t Be Able to Live Without a Smartwatch
Pebble has come a long way since raising $10.3 million on crowdfunding site to make its first smartwatch in 2012. The company sold its one-millionth watch in February 2015 and has carved out a niche in the increasingly crowded field of wearable devices. In an interview with the Guardian, Pebble chief Migicovsky sounded optimistic to the point of being cocky on the future of his company and smartwatches in general.
Although most owners use their Pebble for notifications and activity tracking, Migicovsky sees the device becoming even more useful in various ways. “On the early iPhone and Android devices you had some core usage: mobile browser, maps, messaging, YouTube, but now, years later, we have Uber, Spotify and all these interesting things.
“We’re focusing on building a core platform that provides a ton of value to people daily. We’re building something that we want to stay on people’s wrists, and provide the platform on which other developers can build early examples of what the future will be.”
Smartphone users tend to become dependent on their devices, checking constantly for notification, but this is something Migicovsky would like to make less frequent. “We have room to grow in regard to how we filter notifications, and how we let you disconnect when wearing a Pebble. It’s that ambient-computing aspect of it, where you’re not actively sitting at a desk, so it needs to mesh more into your life,” Migicovsky stated.
“With wearables, we have an ultimate opportunity, as well as a responsibility, to curate and nurture that ambient computing feeling.”
Will the smartphone become as indispensable to users as the smartphone is today? Migicovsky thinks so. “Once Pebble is on people’s wrists, once it’s helping people exchange notifications, keep track of the people they care about, and manage their day, that’s when the next phase kicks in, and people start imagining what the next generation of services will be.”
“Don’t think of it as a killer app. Pebble doesn’t have a single killer app: it’s the platform. Most people can’t live without their phones right now. In the future, we expect that people will not be able to live without their wearable.”
