Pebble smartwatch sets Kickstarter record

If Double Fine Adventure brought crowdfunding site Kickstarter to the world’s attention, then the Pebble smartwatch shows how much people are willing to pay for a good idea.

The watch, which connects either to an iPhone or Android smart device and uses e-paper technology, has raised over US$3.3-million with a month of funding set to go.

That’s a record for any Kickstarter project and comes fresh off the back of the Pebble having raised US$1-million a day after it went up on the site.

The watch connects to smart devices using Bluetooth and an app. The makers of the Pebble watch were initially only asking for US$100 000. Now it looks set to go way past the US$3.3-million record set by Tim Schafer’s Double Fine adventure.

A number of independent games are using the site to attract funding, although physical tech products, documentaries, and musicals are also looking to the site for funding.

The site completely changes the way traditional funding works. Rather than approaching multiple VCs, people can just lay their would-be products out to the web.

The Pebble Watch for instance has received its funding from 23 000 people. While it may not bring traditional funding mechanisms tumbling down Kickstarter does shift the balance of power from a few telling the many what they want to the many outright saying what they want.