元器件交易网讯 3月11日消息，据外媒报道，智能手表厂商Pebble今日宣布展开线上黑客马拉松，将奖励app开发者5000美元或最新版智能手表，该比赛将持续至3月23日。
科技媒体TechCrunch认为黑客马拉松不能解决Pebble的困境。“线上开发比赛能调动开发爱好者的兴趣，当需要清晰的路径为潜在的开发伙伴谋利，证明可穿戴智能设备有商业利益事情才会有进展。”
《纽约时报》认为Pebble的智能手表正在遭受三星Gear2等功能更丰富的产品围追堵截。“Pebble应更重视功能还有外观，两者都有提升空间。”
而
科技媒体Pando认为Pebble想法健全但执行力较差。尽管众筹平台的普及使硬件初创公司兴起，跟上需求、扩展支持并与行业内部交流是许多初创公司并不具备的能力。有大公司的投入可能会扭转这一局面。（元器件交易网毛毛 摘译）
以下为原文：
Pebble today announced an online hackathonthat will reward app developers with $5,000 or the latest version of itssmartwatch. The hackathon will run until March 23, and will operate like atournament where registered Pebble owners can vote to determine the winningapp.
The hackathon follows the Android releaseof Pebble"s app marketplace and the release of Pebble Steel, a new smartwatchthat replaces the original"s rubberized band with a steel one. All together,the last few months have been the busiest Pebble has seen since May 2012, whenit became the most well-funded project in Kickstarter"s history. (It stillholds that title today.)
Offering prizes to encourage appdevelopment isn"t new. Microsoft offered developers $100 to port their apps toits Windows Phone operating system; BlackBerry did the same when it tried toencourage adoption of its BlackBerry 10 platform. But Pebble isn"t trying tocompete in an established market — it"s trying to prove that its products, andsmartwatches in general, can become more than semi-fashionable accessories thatvibrate when someone calls or texts.
Allowing its users to vote on theirfavorite app might allow the company to do just that. These are the people whodecided to spend a few hundred dollars on unproven products in a nascentproduct segment. If they"re going to lead the wrist-borne computing revolution,they"re going to want a sizable software marketplace that allows them toconvince their friends that they aren"t crazy for wearing a miniature computeron their forearm. Giving developers a chance to win $5,000 could help Pebbledeliver that software and please those users.
Reactions from around the Web
TechCrunch notes that a hackathon won"tsolve Pebble developer woes:
An online dev competition can raise theprofile of Pebble"s SDK and reward hobbyists, but the startup needs to work outa clear path to profitability for potential dev partners, and reallydemonstrate that building wearable smartphone has definite business benefitsbefore things will really take off, in my opinion.
The New York Times reviews the Pebble Steelsmartwatch and finds it wanting:
As smartwatches proliferate and mature, thePebble is in danger of being lapped by more feature-rich watches like theSamsung Galaxy Gear 2, which includes fitness-tracking capabilities and acamera (as long as you are using one of the Samsung phones it supports). Thenext Pebble should focus as much on features as on looks, and there is room forimprovement with both.
The Pebble Steel is definitely an aestheticimprovement over the original Pebble, but its features are not all thatdifferent, and that means it is not quite keeping up with the competition.
ReadWrite thinks that Pebble"s growing appsmarketplace is becoming respectable:
Though some of these apps have a limitedaudience, they speak to the expanding features and usability of Pebble, inparticular, and perhaps smartwatches in general— suggesting that the next greatmobile revolution really might be within arm"s reach.
Pando weighs in
I argued last March that Pebble should sellitself to a larger company:
Pebble is a sound idea that has beenremarkably poorly executed. Despite the rise of hardware startups and theirpopularity on Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms, keeping up withdemand and scaling to support many customers requires experience andconnections within the industry that many startups simply don"t have. It wouldlikely be better for Pebble"s customers, both those who have received defectivedevices and those who have yet to unbox their own devices, if a larger companywere to throw its weight behind the project.
Carmel DeAmicis reported in November thatmany wearable devices, especially those that track their owner"s health andfitness, aren"t advertised properly:
Wearable companies should be advertising inthe AARP and partnering with doctors, medical organizations, and insurancecompanies to get the devices in the hands of more people with chronicconditions. After all, this is the group that will benefit the most fromreliably tracking their physical data. And if wearable devices become statusquo for those suffering chronic conditions, money from helping such patientscould flood the coffers of said companies.
James Robinson described the wearablemarket"s primary problem earlier this week:
Either way, the next hurdle for wearabletechnology to clear now the money is flowing the right way is create somethingpast an activity tracker that proves itself indispensable, that makes sense ina deeply organic way and can show off wearables to be more than very clevertechnology that no one actually needs.
