Pebble has defended its decision to return to Kickstarter to fund its latest project, the Pebble Time, suggesting it wouldn’t exist without the site’s support.
The Pebble Time and recently announced Pebble Time Steel have become the most successful Kickstarter project to date, raising over $15 million (£9.95m) with more than 20 days to run on the campaign.
However, many have been critical of Pebble’s decision to return to Kickstarter for its latest smartwatches, Pebble though is adamant that it was only right to take this approach.
Speaking exclusively to TrustedReviews at MWC 2015, Pebble responded to our question about the criticism. Monica Isla, an official Pebble spokesperson stated: “Pebble wouldn’t exist today without Kickstarter. Communities brought us here, communities wanted us and that’s why we are here.”
She added: “When Eric started developing this, there were a couple of things he wanted to put on it, we almost felt obligated to go back to them.”
Suggesting that Pebble wanted to thank the backers who originally helped it into begin, she stated: “
On the subject of selling the Pebble Time and Time Steel elsewhere, the company remains fluid in its approach.
“We could have done so many different things,” Isla said. “We could have gone into retail, online, sold its ourselves. But for us, that wasn’t what brought us here. We’ve had some people say, is this because of money? We always felt obligated to go back to Kickstarter and this is our thank you.”
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Echoing the importance of the community as the reason to return to Kickstarter, Isla also spoke about why they will still be supporting original Pebble users.
“We don’t forget the first 1 million who bought a Pebble. That’s why with Timeline we are going to have it backwards compatible. We don’t want to buy a watch every 6-8 months. That’s why we make the bands customizable.”
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.