Tech 2.0 (or 360)
A new Facebook tool will let you see 360-degree videos, which is becoming more popular with companies like GoPro and programs like NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” The service is coming first for members using Facebook on desktop and Android, then will be in apps for Apple devices in the months ahead.
Smartwatch maker Pebble on Wednesday introduced a round-faced model, hoping to circle the long shadow of Apple’s square-shaped market leader.
The Palo Alto company, which became an Internet sensation with two record-breaking Kickstarter crowdfunding campaigns, began taking orders for the $249 Pebble Time Round this week.
The company’s previous four models, like the Apple Watch, are square. But CEO Eric Migicovsky believes the Time Round will appeal to customers who want a thinner, lighter timepiece with a more traditional shape.
“We think it looks more like a classic wristwatch,” Migicovsky said in an interview.
Pebble released its first smartwatch in 2012, raising a then-Kickstarter record $10 million. In February, it raised $20.3 million for its secondgeneration Pebble Time watches.
The company has sold more than 1 million smartwatches in the past two years. Of course, that pales in comparison to an estimated 3.6 million Apple Watch units sold since April.
Migicovsky said Apple’s dominance is helping his company.
“Apple is undoubtedly a major player in the space, and it’d be crazy to think otherwise,” Migicovsky said. “But we’re making a very distinct and differentiated product.”
Unlike the Apple Watch, which starts at $349, Pebble’s product lineup runs from $99 to $249. Apple, Migicovsky said, “has created the Rolex of smartwatches. We’re very comfortably at the Swatch end of the market.”
But the Pebble Round isn’t the only circular smartwatch on the market. There’s the Moto 360 from Lenovo-owned Motorola, and San Francisco startup Olio also has a line of round watches.
The Pebble Time Round comes in silver, black and rose gold, with ½-inch or ¾-inch bands. It uses a color e-paper display with an LED backlight that is always on. The Apple Watch, by comparison, has to be raised to activate the screen, a battery-saving feature.
The Round has a battery life of about two days, far less than its square brothers, which can go seven to 10 days without charging, but it’s still more than Apple’s. And the Round can be fully charged in 15 minutes.
The Round isn’t waterresistant like Pebble’s Time and Time Steel. But the company believes that the Round will appeal to people who are more fashion conscious and won’t want to use it while swimming or showering.
Pebble is also looking to expand its demographics. Most of its customers have been men, but the company hopes the Round will appeal to more women.
Pebble is taking online orders for the Round, which will be shipped starting Nov. 8. That’s also when the watch goes on sale in Best Buy and Target stores, Migicovsky said. The Round will be available in Britain this year and elsewhere in Europe in early 2016.