Tag: pebble

Wearable technology line is growing at Best Buy

| June 23, 2014

This makes the electronics giants a massive player in the wearables sector of mobile tech.

Best Buy has recently announced that it is expanding its line of wearable technology products and as a part of the marketing campaign for this effort, it has invited consumers to visit the stores to be able to check out the features of the new Pebble Steel smartwatch.

This makes the retailer the only store that has given consumers this wearable tech opportunity.

The Pebble Steel is the latest in the line of smartwatch devices from the brand, which has taken the wearable technology industry by storm through its massive popularity, despite the fact that it is made by a relatively small startup that is up against massive competition from electronics giants such as Samsung and Sony. The company has managed to create a considerable and highly loyal user base.

This wearable technology device syncs with both iOS and Android based devices.

Werable Technology - Best BuyThis smartwatch is the latest generation of the original Pebble. That first device is still available at Best Buy and is being sold in Arctic White for $149.99. The Steel, however, is designed to be more elegant and sturdy than the sportier original. Though it is designed on the same hardware platform, it doubles the memory of the original device, which was 64KB. It is currently priced at $229 in the store (though the suggested retail price is $249.

The redesign and upgrades in the Steel were a direct response to some of the issues that consumers had brought to the attention of the company. The founder of Pebble, Eric Migicovsky, said that “We noticed a lot of people saying they wouldn’t put it on their wrist when wearing a suit, in more dressed up situations, or even saying they liked it but the look wasn’t what they wanted.”

The new wearable technology watch will be only one of the many items that Best Buy intends to offer among its selection of wearables. Customers will be able to find the smartwatch in store, as well as online at the company’s new site for wearable tech. This includes other smartwatches, as well as fitness trackers and pedometers, action cameras, and other similar mobile devices.

Smartwatch sales leaders in the U.S. are clearly Samsung and Pebble

| June 18, 2014

These two companies currently make up 96 percent of American sales for these wearables.

According to a recent survey, Samsung and Pebble are the smartwatch manufacturers that have massively dominated the category since October, in terms of sales, as Gear devices currently make up an estimated 78 percent of the total $96 million in revenue for that market, while Pebble holds the majority of the remainder, at 18 percent.

It has been estimated that since October 2013, there have been about half a million of these devices sold in the U.S.

The data was released by the Weekly Tracking Service from NPD Group, a market research company, which said that “almost half a million smartwatches have been sold in the U.S. since October 2013 and category incumbents, Samsung and Pebble, dominate the market.” NPD ‘s recent survey includes data that spans from October 6 of last year, to May 25.

Details about the smartwatch sales from other companies such as Qualcomm and Sony were not revealed in the report.

Smartwatch SalesDuring that period of time, one in three of all of the wristwatch wearable technology devices were sold within the 2013 holiday season, said the report. NPD executive director of industry analysis, Ben Arnold, explained that they are predicting that that the sales of these devices will only continue to grow throughout this year. He added that “With nearly $100 million in US sales in less than a year, the category is off to a promising start with just two major brands.”

The report went on to say that the Wearable Technology Study from NPD showed that about 20 percent of consumers feel that they are interested in actually buying one of these devices, except that the cost is currently prohibitively high. In the United States, the price of the average smartwatch is currently $189, with devices ranging from about $160 to $257.

Arnold went on to say that as manufacturers spot the opportunity to combine the sale of these wearables with that of smartphones, the prices of the watches have started to dip down into the range that consumers would consider to be more affordable. He stated that “Like any new product category, the overall ASP (average selling price) on these devices will decline as the market becomes more diverse with budget, mid-level, and premium product offerings.”