Pebble Technology Corp., a watch maker that raised more than $10.2 million on crowdfunding website Kickstarter, will beat Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co. into stores with its smartwatch.
Best Buy Co. will exclusively begin selling Pebble’s black smartwatch in its stores on July 7, according to a statement yesterday from Pebble. The $150 watch, which is compatible with devices that run both Apple’s iOS and Google Inc.’s Android mobile software, is already available on Best Buy’s and Pebble’s websites.
The retail debut of Pebble’s wearable device follows Apple filing a request June 3 in Japan to trademark the “iWatch” name, while Samsung in March said it was also working on a smartwatch. Neither company has discussed details or said when the watches might go on sale. Sony Corp. has sold its SmartWatch, which wirelessly connects to phones using Android, for more than a year.
Best Buy approached Pebble last year about selling the smartwatch in its stores, Pebble Chief Executive Officer Eric Migicovsky said. Pebble has sold more than 100,000 of the devices since the company held its Kickstarter campaign in 2012.