经典百搭款智能手表即将上市

    将于本月晚些时候与Steel一道发布的还有它正在开发中的应用商店。Pebble应用程序和桌面的下载次数已超300万，但迄今为止，用户必须通过MyPebbleFaces.com等第三方网站来进行下载。而Pebble应用商店将为用户提供一个重要的官方下载平台，应用类别包括游戏、通知、工具和实用程序等。

    过去一年，Pebble智能手表的销量突破了30万。米基卡夫斯基和他的团队相信，造型经典的Steel将吸引那些富有远见的买家，进一步推升Pebble智能手表的销量。可穿戴设备在2012年的表现乏善可陈，Google Glass和三星（Samsung）Gear手表等设备不仅功能有限，而且有粗制滥造之嫌。然而，据预计，可穿戴设备到2016年有望热销，市场总值有望达到60亿美元。鉴于其早期销量甚佳，Pebble极有希望成为可穿戴设备市场的领导者。

    米基卡夫斯基称，过去四年令人激动不已。米基卡夫斯基是滑铁卢大学（University of Waterloo）工程专业的毕业生。有一天，他在骑自行车时有了开发智能手表的设想，并于在校期间围绕这个主题做了一个项目。他当时想，假如不用掏出手机，就能查收短信、电子邮件、来电提醒等等，岂不快哉？

    当然，索尼（Sony）和摩托罗拉（Motorola）等大企业已经尝试过开发这类设备，但成果都不如与iPhone和Android高度兼容的Pebble有前景，而且远没有作为新创企业的Pebble引人关注。Pebble当初在Kickstarter网站吸金近1030万美元，比米基卡夫斯基原本打算募集的金额高出近100倍，可谓赚足了眼球。（迄今为止，Pebble已从风险资本家蒂莫西•德雷珀、企业家保罗•布克海特以及Charles River风投公司等支持者手中募得2500多万美元。）

    对米基卡夫斯基而言，创业初期既令人兴奋，又令人沮丧。米基卡夫斯基说：“我认为，当人们看到我们在Kickstarter网站上募得巨额资金，他们常常忽视了这一事实，那就是我们是一家做了四年的公司，我们并不是一夜成名。”米基卡夫斯基回忆道，2009年，他几度被迫从自己的银行账户里拿钱支付早期员工的工资，这些员工中有些是辞职来投奔米基卡夫斯基的朋友。Pebble不公布财务状况，不过，如今这家公司的雇员数已从去年初的11人增加到了45人。Pebble每周五由米基卡夫斯基主持召开周会，会上讨论各位员工正在进行的工作。米基卡夫斯基说：“就算重来一次，我也不会做过多的改变……那些时光对我来说千金不换，因为是它们造就了今日的Pebble。”（财富中文网）         

    Also in development: an app store that will launch alongside Steel later this month. Over 3 million apps and watch faces have been downloaded, but until now, users have had to download those via third-party sites like MyPebbleFaces.com. The Pebble appstore will finally offer an official, central location for users to do that, with app categories like Games, Notifications, Tools & Utilities, and so on.

    Over 300,000 Pebble smartwatches have been sold in the last 12 months, and with Steel, Migicovsky and crew bet its classier looks will convince some forward-thinking shoppers to buy in and goose sales further. Although 2012 was lackluster for wearable computing, with some devices like Google Glass (GOOG) and Samsung's Gear watch proving limited and rough, it's estimated wearables could be a booming market worth as much as $6 billion by 2016. And given its solid early sales, Pebble stands as good a chance as any company to be a dominant player.

    To call the last four years a thrill would be an understatement, says Migicovsky, a University of Waterloo engineering graduate who first dreamed up Pebble while he was out cycling one day and developed it as a school project. Wouldn't it be great, he thought, if you could check texts, emails, call notifications, and other digital bits and bytes without whipping out that phone?

    Certainly larger companies like Sony (SNE) and Motorola had already tried such devices, but few were as promising as the iPhone- and Android-friendly Pebble, and none had the buzz the startup generated when it raked in nearly $10.3 million in funding on Kickstarter, or 100 times the original amount Migicovsky sought. (To date, the company has raised over $25 million from backers that include venture capitalist Timothy Draper, entrepreneur Paul Buchheit and Charles River Ventures.)

    For Migicovsky, those earlier days were both thrilling and frustrating. "When people think of us and they see our Kickstarter success, I think they overlook the fact that we're a four-year-old company -- not an overnight success," he says, recalling the few times in 2009 he was forced to dip into his personal bank account to pay early employees, several of whom were friends who left their jobs to work at the startup. Now the company, which does not disclose its financials, employs 45 -- up from 11 early last year -- and holds Friday meetings over which Migicovsky presides to discuss what everyone is working on. Says Migicovsky: "If I had to go back, I wouldn't change too much ... I wouldn't take back any of that time because it all contributed to Pebble."