Pebble CEO: In 5 to 10 years, the watch market will be dominated by smart watches

Eric Migicovsky, co-founder and CEO of smartwatch maker Pebble, attended the 2015 Internet Summit in Dublin recently. He described it this way at the conference: "I believe that in another 5 to 10 years, most watches in the world will be smartwatches or have smart functions." In addition, he also demonstrated two of his products at the conference, Pebble Time Steel and Pebble Time Round, each priced at $250.

Although the Palo Alto, California-based company has been ahead of Apple, Samsung, LG Electronics and other companies in the past few years, it now has to face the dilemma of how to stand out from its competitors and win the favor of third-party developers.

If Migicovsky's prediction is to be met, more than 600 million of the 1.2 billion watches sold worldwide each year will have to be smartwatches in order for it to break through the existing technology market. But not everyone likes such devices.

“We need to go beyond the early adopters and target the rest of the world,” said Peter-Frans Pauwels, co-founder of TomTom, a satellite navigation company that now also has a music-playing sports watch called the Spark, adding that they need to understand why these people are reluctant to adopt such devices.

After Apple launched its smartwatch, it has continued to expand in the market with its strong development and marketing capabilities. Analysts pointed out that Apple Watch sales in the third quarter will reach between 2.5 million and 6 million. Pebble has sold more than 1 million smartwatches, so Migicovsky believes that they have the ability to compete with Apple.

Migicovsky said that although people have exaggerated the impact of the Apple Watch on Pebble, Pebble's sales actually doubled last year after Apple announced the release of the watch.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.