Pebble opens doors to app store with over 1K apps and watch faces

Posted:
in iPhone edited March 2014
Following the launch of its "Steel" series smart watch lineup last week, Pebble on Monday rolled out a version update for its eponymous iOS app, granting the wearable devices access to a new custom-built app store already populated with more than 1,000 titles.

Pebble


In a brief overview of the brand new Pebble app store on Friday, AppleInsider noted that the service was slated to launch alongside the Pebble 2.0 update last week. Unforeseen setbacks delayed the release, but the company has announced all assets are online and functioning.

Divided up into categories like Remotes, Daily, Notifications, Tools & Utilities, and Fitness and Games, the app store-within-an-app lets iOS users interact with Pebble hardware on a much deeper level than just reading push notifications and alerts. Developers now have access to powerful APIs that leverage the onboard processing power and communication suites of Apple's iOS devices.

Despite having just opened, the store has been well curated and carries a wide range of titles, many of which have been available via third-party databases databases. From a GPS app that pushes map images to the wrist, to a remote control for Nest's thermostat, to tools for converting currencies and posting tweets, the Pebble app store is well stocked.

Along with independent developers, Pebble has a number of "flagship" partners, which at launch include Foursquare, Yelp!, GoPro and ESPN.

Most apps are integrated, meaning they can be installed and controlled directly by the new Pebble app. Some require users to download and run a companion app from the iOS App Store. Pebble has so far tagged these non-integrated apps in a clear manner.

While a good number of apps are available at launch, a few titles we saw at CES are not yet in the library. An app that controls the door locks on a Mercedes-Benz vehicle and a Pandora remote control are two notable examples of upcoming additions. The software will likely appear in the store at a later date alongside a bevy of apps not yet publicly announced.

Pebble's app store is compatible with all Pebble watches, from the earliest Kickstarter-backed units to the newly-shipped redesigned Pebble Steel watches equipped with Gorilla Glass.

The Pebble app store is accessible within the Pebble 2.0 iOS app, a free download from the App Store. At press time, the update was still rolling out across the iTunes network.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member

    This is company to watch. In stead of apple making an investment in a wearable product like Samsung did and have it fail. They can just keep and eye (watch) this company (for all we know they could be an investor with first rights to buy) and see how well this product does on the market place and see how consumers react to it. If it fails then Apple learned something and it does not look bad for them. If it is a hit then Apple can buy them and it looks good for them.

     

    You do not always need do things yourself, and take all the arrows some times it better to let a smaller company test the ground first.

  • Reply 2 of 24
    19831983 Posts: 1,225member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Maestro64 View Post

     

    This is company to watch. In stead of apple making an investment in a wearable product like Samsung did and have it fail. They can just keep and eye (watch) this company (for all we know they could be an investor with first rights to buy) and see how well this product does on the market place and see how consumers react to it. If it fails then Apple learned something and it does not look bad for them. If it is a hit then Apple can buy them and it looks good for them.

     

    You do not always need do things yourself, and take all the arrows some times it better to let a smaller company test the ground first.


    Thing is, its most likely that Apple has already got in development a smartwatch of their own that's much more sophisticated than the Pebble. None the less I wish Pebble well, they seem to be a nice little company.

  • Reply 3 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by 1983 View Post

     

    Thing is, its most likely that Apple has already got in development a smartwatch of their own that's much more sophisticated than the Pebble. None the less I wish Pebble well, they seem to be a nice little company.


    Even if Apple has its own watch in development, purchasing Pebble might be a smart move, if only to get their people/know-how. It's clearly a sharp little company.

  • Reply 4 of 24
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    Quote:


    An app that controls the door locks on a Mercedes-Benz vehicle 

     

    That is cool!

     

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Hopeless View Post

     

    Even if Apple has its own watch in development, purchasing Pebble might be a smart move, if only to get their people/know-how. It's clearly a sharp little company.

     


     

    Absolutely.  Its one thing to be smart- lots of people are smart.  Its another to act on that intelligence and create something.  These are definitely some guys to watch.

  • Reply 5 of 24
    newbeenewbee Posts: 2,055member

    I'm not sure that I'm "comfortable" with this appstore within an appstore scenario. Does this mean that Apple has lost the ability to monitor all of the "sub apps" (for lack of a better term) ? And, if so, what if some "unethical party" goes the same route? Can someone better versed in this explain this to me, "like I'm a 5 year old" ?

  • Reply 6 of 24
    robmrobm Posts: 1,068member
    newbee wrote: »
    I'm not sure that I'm "comfortable" with this appstore within an appstore scenario. Does this mean that Apple has lost the ability to monitor all of the "sub apps" (for lack of a better term) ? And, if so, what if some "unethical party" goes the same route? Can someone better versed in this explain this to me, "like I'm a 5 year old" ?

    Cool ! Freemium apps on your wrist :-)

    Yea - I'm with you newbee. The legal responsibility is messy. Is Apple now going to be held liable for someone else's store ?
    Seems overly complicated.
  • Reply 7 of 24
    robm wrote: »
    Cool ! Freemium apps on your wrist :-)

    Yea - I'm with you newbee. The legal responsibility is messy. Is Apple now going to be held liable for someone else's store ?
    Seems overly complicated.

    Aren't they all just in-app purchase?
  • Reply 8 of 24

    I'm a timepiece collector/nerd, so I may get one of these simply because I want a watch with a programmable face. I can even program my own.

     

    That one where it spells out the time with words mimics a watch that costs $700. Lots of digital watches with fancy (but unchangable) displays cost more than $250. The connection to my iPhone is just icing on the cake.

  • Reply 9 of 24
    thomprthompr Posts: 1,521member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by newbee View Post

     

    I'm not sure that I'm "comfortable" with this appstore within an appstore scenario. Does this mean that Apple has lost the ability to monitor all of the "sub apps" (for lack of a better term) ? And, if so, what if some "unethical party" goes the same route? Can someone better versed in this explain this to me, "like I'm a 5 year old" ?


    The sub-apps are going to run on someone else's hardware.  I don't have a problem with this.

  • Reply 10 of 24
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    robm wrote: »
    Cool ! Freemium apps on your wrist :-)

    Yea - I'm with you newbee. The legal responsibility is messy. Is Apple now going to be held liable for someone else's store ?
    Seems overly complicated.

    Why would Apple be legally responsible?
  • Reply 11 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by newbee View Post

     

    I'm not sure that I'm "comfortable" with this appstore within an appstore scenario. Does this mean that Apple has lost the ability to monitor all of the "sub apps" (for lack of a better term) ? And, if so, what if some "unethical party" goes the same route? Can someone better versed in this explain this to me, "like I'm a 5 year old" ?


    My understanding is that Pebbles app store is nowhere inside or even associated with Apple's Appstore.  It is its own separate entity that is accessed inside the pebble app store app only accessible through the watch itself. In other words, on your Pebble watch, there is an icon to access the Pebble app store. The Pebble app store, as far as I can tell from perusing the Pebble website, is only accessible through the watch itself, not online.

     

    I'm fairly certain that Apple does not allow third party app stores within its own Appstore. I recall a recent story of a dev team who tried to do that and their app was rejected from Apple's Appstore.

  • Reply 12 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Maestro64 View Post

     

    This is company to watch. In stead of apple making an investment in a wearable product like Samsung did and have it fail. They can just keep and eye (watch) this company (for all we know they could be an investor with first rights to buy) and see how well this product does on the market place and see how consumers react to it. If it fails then Apple learned something and it does not look bad for them. If it is a hit then Apple can buy them and it looks good for them.

     

    You do not always need do things yourself, and take all the arrows some times it better to let a smaller company test the ground first.


    I don't agree. The Pebble is ugly and clunky; the interface is inelegant; and the display tech is very early 1990's. Nonetheless, I think there's a place for it somewhere in the market. Tim Cook was right when he said that many wearables do one thing pretty well, whereas none do may things very well. This is an example of such a thing, IMO.

     

    Having said that, without an application store web presence that I am aware of, it is hard to tell how good their third party app ecosystem is and impossible to determine how robust an SDK they have built. 

     

    If Apple ships one, and I'll bet money they are shipping one this calendar year, they will load theirs with a ton of biometric sensors, a rock solid payment system, NFC and BLE, and fairly high quality high resolution display covered by sapphire glass. In other words, it will make this thing look like a joke. 

  • Reply 13 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Carthusia View Post

     

    My understanding is that Pebbles app store is nowhere inside or even associated with Apple's Appstore.  It is its own separate entity that is accessed inside the pebble app store app only accessible through the watch itself. In other words, on your Pebble watch, there is an icon to access the Pebble app store. The Pebble app store, as far as I can tell from perusing the Pebble website, is only accessible through the watch itself, not online.

     

    I'm fairly certain that Apple does not allow third party app stores within its own Appstore. I recall a recent story of a dev team who tried to do that and their app was rejected from Apple's Appstore.


    I stand corrected, but I'm not sure how long this will last. I really can't see how this was approved by Apple. From Cult of Mac:

     

    Just like the App Store on your iPhone or Google Play on your Android, the Pebble appstore is a “one-stop-shop” for kitting out your device with new content. You’ll find new new watchfaces and new apps across numerous categories, including Daily, Tools & Utilities, Notifications, Remotes, Fitness, and even Games.

    Until now, Pebble apps and watchfaces were installed through third-party portals like MyPebbleFaces, but now they can be transferred directly to your device from within the free Pebble companion apps for Android and iOS.

    “But the Pebble appstore is more than just a centralized location for apps and watchfaces,” Pebble says on its blog.

    “We’re actively curating the appstore to bring you the best apps and watchfaces every day. In addition, the locker stores your favorite apps and watchfaces and provides a quick and easy way to load and unload them from your Pebble.”

    The Pebble appstore is available today on iOS, and it’s coming “very, very soon” to Android.

     

    Very curious, indeed.

     

  • Reply 14 of 24
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member

    I want this...

     

  • Reply 16 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by herbapou View Post

     

    I want this...

     


    I love the idea of this, but can Apple execute it in an Apply way? A large, curved Retina screen on a watch-style wearable would be amazing, but maybe not practical enough. 

     

    So many unknowns.....there would need to be an accelerometer and gyroscope tied to the UI such that each app and the home screen are always facing the user when the watch is pointed to the face. If they used those sensors, wouldn't there be an unnecessary battery tax? Will a combination of kinetic, chemical, and solar energy technology mitigate those concerns? 

     

    How frustrating will swiping be when the device moves about the wrist? 

     

    Will that styling will be appealing to men? Will Apple design a strapless, rigid wrist wearable in varying sizes? I guess there could be S, M, and L diameters in a few different colors (Black, White, and Red), but no variation in storage size.

  • Reply 17 of 24
    Originally Posted by herbapou View Post

    I want this...


     

    Pretty. Designed well. 

     

    But hit your wrist against ONE thing and boom, it’s gone. 

     

    With the iPhone, iPod, and iPad, you’re not generally smacking your head around into objects.

  • Reply 18 of 24
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    hopeless wrote: »
    Even if Apple has its own watch in development, purchasing Pebble might be a smart move, if only to get their people/know-how. It's clearly a sharp little company.

    The way I see it Pebble is to technology as Rudy is to football. They mean well and they give it their all but their results are ultimately sub-par compared to what Apple can do. I see no IP that Apple would want to buy from them.

    herbapou wrote: »

    This will never happen.

    Pretty. Designed well. 

    But hit your wrist against ONE thing and boom, it’s gone. 

    With the iPhone, iPod, and iPad, you’re not generally smacking your head around into objects.

    It's pretty but it's not designed well. Wrists are perfect cylinders; not even close. Even if we overlooked the futility of the thin display or its size the thing would turn on your wrist way too much so you'd spend significant turn just realigning it just to use it, but if it's touch-enabled what is to keep it spinning around your wrist when you try to use it?
  • Reply 19 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Michael Scrip View Post





    The return of bangle bracelets!

     

    For some reason I was thinking about the way Egyptians walk when I read this comment...

  • Reply 20 of 24
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    The return of bangle bracelets!

    For some reason I was thinking about the way Egyptians walk when I read this comment...

    Or you just had a manic day.
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