Pebble has sold more than 1 million smartwatches, the company said Monday.
The milestone was reached on December 31, a company rep confirmed with CNET. The sales figure is up dramatically from the 400,000 sold as of last March, CEO Eric Migicovsky told The Verge.
A price drop last fall may have helped boost sales. In September, Pebble trimmed the price of its standard smartwatch to $99 and its Steel edition to $199. It also added features to both models.
Interest in Pebble smartwatches has been high ever since a record-setting Kickstarter campaign back in 2012, but the company is now facing increased competition. Motorola, Samsung, LG, and Sony have introduced smartwatches equipped with Android Wear, Google’s mobile OS for such products. Microsoft launched its Band watch late last year. And Apple will debut its smartwatch in April.
To meet the challenges from rival devices, Migicovsky told The Verge that the company will introduce new products this year as well as a new software platform for its smartwatches. The CEO wouldn’t reveal details on what’s ahead but teased a new software platform that will make its watches somehow more distinct.
“We’ve found a new framework to use as an interaction model on the watch,” Migicovsky said, adding that the apps currently found on the Pebble won’t be the main focus. “It doesn’t look like what we have today, and it doesn’t look like what’s on your smartphone.”
The standard Pebble watch offers fitness and sleep tracking, notifications from your smartphone, up to seven days of battery life, and access to apps. The Pebble Steel watch provides the same feature and adds a display made of Gorilla Glass and a stainless steel body. It also offers an optional steel band for another $20. Both versions are compatible with iOS and Android, so you can pair your Pebble with an iPhone or an Android smartphone.