This week, Google (GOOG) announced Android Wear, a version of its popular mobile operating system, with launch partners such as Motorola and its Moto 360 watch, due in the summer. When devices like the Moto 360 arrive, they’ll join the massive Android community, one Gartner estimates will have 1 billion users by year’s end.
“When we started working on wearables six years ago, there were few players in the space and a lot of skeptics,” says Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky of Google’s news. “It’s exciting to see this market grow so quickly — enabling more interesting use cases and keeping all of us laser-focused on creating the very best user experiences we can.”
If Migicovsky doesn’t seem nervous, it’s because his startup is off to a solid start. The company has sold over 400,000 Pebble smart watches since January 2013. Back-of-the-envelope math estimates $60 million in revenues for that time frame. According George Zachary, a Charles River Ventures partner and Pebble investor, the company will make twice last year’s revenue in 2014. (No wonder Pebble became profitable in early 2013.) There are now over 1,000 Pebble apps available, with 12,000 registered developers all-but-assuring more are on the way. Brags Zachary: “It’s my fastest-growing company ever.”
As revenues have ballooned, so has Pebble. The startup employs around 70, up from 45 this January, and just added two new members to management. Jeff Hyman, Apple’s (AAPL) ex-Director of Hardware Engineering and Manufacturing Law, will serve as general counsel. Meanwhile, former Jawbone VP of Finance Marin Tchakarov will act as CFO.
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
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Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!