Apple may be courting the fashion press with its Apple Watch – it made the cover of Vogue in China, after all – but Pebble will stick to functionality, its CEO has said.
Pebble was at the time the most highly funded project on Kickstarter, and is widely considered the first true smartwatch. Pebble founder and CEO Eric Migicovsky told the Telegraph that the company will stay true to its core values and not try and imitate Apple or Google.
"I think Apple's looking upmarket, they've created something that's more of a fashion piece than anything else," he said. "It speaks of high quality and expensive materials.
"Google on the other hand, has taken the approach of just taking a smartphone and trying to cram it into your wrist with a full colour screen, and basically the components inside are equivalent to what you would put inside a smartphone.
"We've chosen to create something that meshes with your existing life. It works with the phone you already have – whether that's an iPhone or an Android – long battery life, waterproof, durable and affordable. Those are the key things that we hold very dear."
But what of the Pebble Steel, the company's second-generation smartwatch that features a classy steel strap? This is 'soft fashion', according to Migicovsky, and not 'designer' fashion.
We applaud Pebble's watches for their functionality, low cost, and week-long battery life. Just don't expect to see them on the cover of Vogue anytime soon.
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