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Pebble has revealed the Apple Watch launch event caused a surge in Kickstarter funding for its Pebble Time smartwatch.
Prior to the launch event, Pebble was bringing in cash from backers at a rate of around $6,000 every hour. That figure is from March 8.
Just 24 hours later, on March 9 - the Apple Watch event day - Pebble saw its funding rate rocket to $10,000 per hour.
Then on March 10, as chatter of the Apple Watch flooded social media, Pebble reportedly raked in a formidable $16,000 every single hour.
It was widely expected that the Apple Watch would be a big boon for the wearables sector, and that theory now seems to have been confirmed.
Speaking to TechCrunch, Pebble’s CEO and founder Eric Migicovsky said: “Apple’s event this week caused a nice spike in support for us, as anticipated.”
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“When the biggest company in the world enters your market, that’s the kind of validation you can only dream of.”
He added: “Ultimately the more awareness for smartwatches, and the more choice for consumers, the better for everyone. 2015 is going to be an extraordinarily exciting year.”
Apple was recently named the most valuable company in the world by more than double, so the effect on the market is unsurprising.
The company did, however, distance itself from some of its newfound competitors recently by removing health-tracking rivals from its store.
The Apple Watch is set to open for pre-order on April 10, and will be fully available to buy from April 24.