Tis The Season for Smartwatches? Pebble Hits Amazon Amid Toq Pre-Order Rollout
The wearable technology market is growing, but while smartglasses remain specialized and elusive, several smartwatches are attempting to reach the broad holiday consumer audience this year. While Qualcomm's Toq smartwatch began preorders at the beginning the week, Pebble has put its smartwatch on Amazon for wider availability, and is offering a Black Friday discount.
Pebble, the smartwatch by the startup company of the same name, is normally available at the company's website for $149.99, along with Best Buy and AT&T retail stores and online.
Now, Pebble has announced that their smartwatch is available on Amazon, just in time for the holiday shopping season.
Pebble is now available for purchase on Amazon... Happy thanksgiving! https://t.co/aRB4eNFluK
— Pebble (@Pebble) November 28, 2013
The device is available for $1 less than the normal retail price, but during Black Friday, Pebble is offering a $20 discount on its smartwatch.
On Pebble's website, the smartwatch is available in Black, Red, Orange, White, with the Grey version backordered due to huge demand. On Amazon,
Meanwhile the more expensive Toq smartwatch, by mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, started taking preorders on Monday, and will deliver the devices on Dec. 2. Right now, only a limited quantity of Toq smartwatches are being produced by the company, and the device is only available in Black right now. White Toqs will be available later.
The two smartwatches are quite different from each other, but both are known for offering some of the best battery life for devices of that kind. The Toq, pronounced "talk" and not "tock," costs $349.99, and comes with a color display that uses Mirasol display technology to get several days out of the battery.
"The Toq smartwatch showcases key Qualcomm innovations, such as Mirasol always on low power display, AllJoyn interactions and WiPower LE wireless charging, that will define the emerging wearable category," said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of Qualcomm in a release. "Like a traditional watch, Toq displays information at a glance with no on/off switch. And paired with a smartphone to receive notifications and content, it allows the watch to seamlessly merge our physical and digital lives. Leveraging these and other industry-leading technologies, we and our partners will enable new product opportunities and consumer experiences."
Pebble, on the other hand, does not have a color display, but uses e-ink to keep the battery going for up to 7+ days. Pebble began as a Kickstarter project, finding massive success, becoming the most highly crowd-funded project on the website, with more than $10 million pledged by over 68,000 people. By July of this year over 275,000 devices were pre-ordered.
Pebble's strategy is much different than that of Qualcomm and Samsung, offering basic functionality for both iOS and Android devices: the low-powered backlit LCD provides customizable watch faces and instant notifications, along with a vibrating motor, magnetometer, accelerometer, and other sensors. Instead of a touchscreen, the Pebble smartwatch uses four navigation buttons, resulting in its very low price.
Meanwhile, tech giant Samsung is trying to compete with a smartwatch priced between the Toq and Pebble, the Galaxy Gear for $300. Recent reports said the South Korean giant sold 800,000 smartwatches, which would make it the best-selling wrist-based computer in the world, but it turned out that that figure applied only to the number of devices shipped to retailers. Still, Samsung is planning on a lot of demand this holiday season, and it looks like smartwatches in general are preparing to take off.