 Hi, I'm Vlad with The Verge, we're here at CES 2014 and I'm joined by Eric Minkowski, CEO of Pebble and you're here with your brand new Pebble Steel, your second smartwatch. Yeah, we were here last year with our first watch and now we're here with Pebble Steel. Pebble Steel is an upgrade to the Pebble, it adds a lot of premium materials to the construction, we're using stainless steel, we're using Corning Gorilla Glass, but at its core it's still a Pebble, it talks to your iPhone or your Android phone and it brings all the same notifications and apps and other features that you've come to expect from your Pebble. It's now just in a little bit more of an elegant or more stylish watch case. And what drove the decision to move to steel as the main construction component? We actually borrowed a lot of the techniques and a lot of the components from the classic watchmaking industry. We even went overseas to find a factory that had experience building sort of higher end classic watches. So we used stainless steel 316, which is a pretty high quality material. We also CNC mill every single Pebble that comes off the line. We make sure that all the seals are tight and all the dimensions are perfect, partly because we've maintained the exact same waterproofing rating for the first Pebble, Pebble Steel's waterproof to 5 atmospheres. And the idea of keeping it waterproof kind of goes with our philosophy of making sure that Pebble will mesh perfectly into your everyday life. We've maintained all the other features like a 5 to 7 day long battery life. We've even made it a bit smaller and more compact, reducing the border area around the display. Really because we wanted to make a watch that can get onto more people's wrists around the world. And then once it's on the wrist, then we can provide that smart functionality like the notifications and the apps and stuff like that. So one of the reactions was from our editor in chief, Josh Dupolsky, who only saw pictures of the new Pebble and he said that it was the first smart watch that he would consider buying and owning and actually feeling proud of. So was that part of your drive behind the design to get those people who wouldn't consider buying a smart watch to go for the Pebble Steel? Definitely. I mean that was some of the feedback that we got right at the beginning of Pebble. People loved the idea of Pebble and they started putting it on their wrist when they did activities like swimming or biking or hiking. But we got people who said, you know, I love it but I'm just not going to be able to put it on when I go out for dinner or when I go to the office. So with Pebble Steel, we're hoping to be able to provide the same smart functionality to people who just want to wear a more stylish watch or a different design on their wrist. You have OS 2.0, which you're going to be releasing at the end of this month, January 2014. That's around the time when you properly launch your app store and it's around the time that the Pebble Steel will be arriving. Yeah, it's kind of our forward push for 2014. I think that in 2014, Pebble will represent more than just the hardware. I think the actual functionality will be driven by the apps that people create around the platform. And up until this point, it's been a bit of a creative process to find apps for Pebble. We didn't have a centralized app repository, so there's been a lot of community-sponsored projects like My Pebble Faces and the Pebble forums that have popped up to kind of fill the void. There's people that are sharing apps on Facebook, on Reddit, all over the internet. With the Pebble app store, developers now have a consolidated single point of contact where they can upload their apps and get their app distributed to over 300,000 people around the world. Well, since you started shipping the original Pebble, there have been plenty of other smart watches showing up on the market, Samsung, so many they've come up with new iterations. What do you think that is? Where does this popularity come from? Well, I think other smart watches in the market, it's not necessarily a new thing. Even before we launched Pebble, there were, I think, one or two versions of the Sony smart watch. There was this Moto Active. So there's always been a lot of sort of movement in this market. I think what's interesting to me is just the fact that most of the other people who are making products are taking a very different stance towards what the product is meant to do in your everyday life than Pebble. For us, we're all about meshing with your everyday life. So it's about making a product that doesn't force you to conform to the product, that conforms to your own life and offers more of a companion to your smartphone rather than a replacement. And I think that's kind of our guiding principle right now, both when we design Pebble and Pebble Steel, as well as the software that we make. That will be something that we continue forward with. We're bought into that idea. We believe that the best product on your wrist is one that works best for the circumstances that it's built for, and the expanded functionality can be left on your phone. So that's kind of our guiding principle. And I think over time, you'll see more and more smart watches and wearables that kind of, I guess, try to cram a lot of gear onto your wrist. But at the end of the day, that's just not exactly what we're trying to do. That's beautiful. That's exactly the way that I feel. And it's the thing that attracted me to the original Pebble. And we're seeing that from our users as well. And on top of that, that informs our app and software decisions, figuring out which components of the app we want to include on the watch. It's kind of governed by that same principle. You don't want to have to write an email or answer an email or anything on your wrist. You might want to do a quick response or a canned reply. But there's quite a division of labor between what's sitting in your pocket or in your bag and what's on your body. So outside of the iPhone and Android devices, what about Windows Phone and other mobile platforms? We've been looking at them. I mean, we have some avid users within the office of these other platforms as well. For us, it's kind of a priorities thing. We have two major platforms to tackle already. And providing excellent functionality to both iOS and Android users is still our prime goal. We're exploring it. There's actually a lot of people who have started developing third-party Pebble apps for both Windows Phone as well as BlackBerry 10. We've tried them all, and they're pretty awesome. We're supporting people where we can, helping publish more parts of our API. I think that as a company, we'll probably continue focusing on iOS and Android. But I think we're going to try to do our part to the community and make more and more pieces of the Pebble API open source so that people can interact with Pebble when they need to. And just to speak about the future, there are a few queries that we have. Our Korean intern was interested about other languages, your support for other languages, whether you might be considering that. Yeah, it's a question that we get on a daily basis. It's also a problem that we've been thinking about a lot. How do you build expanded language functionality into such a small and portable device like Pebble? It's a problem that we're actively working on. We don't have an ETA or anything like that that we can announce. But it's actively one of our top requested features right now, offering expanded language support. And the thing that goes hand in hand with that is expanded markets. When will we get some of this in Europe? That's the thing that I'm really wondering about. Well, we've been shipping Pebble worldwide from our website. And it's kind of interesting. We've actually gotten a massive amount of orders on our website from outside of the US. I think we're close to around 50-50 right now, orders that are coming from inside the US to around the world. I think it's cool. We're pushing forward on international compatibility. But I think that even today it's quite an accessible product that people can pick up. In fact, with Pebble Steel, we're offering free worldwide courier. So anyone in the world can buy a Pebble for $249 with free shipping. From January 28th. Well, they can pre-order it now. Exactly. And get it on January 28th. All right. Thank you very much for your time, Eric. Thanks, Brian. I appreciate it.
 Hi, I'm Vlad with The Verge, we're here at CES 2014 and I'm joined by Eric Minkowski,
 CEO of Pebble and you're here with your brand new Pebble Steel, your second smartwatch.
 Yeah, we were here last year with our first watch and now we're here with Pebble Steel.
 Pebble Steel is an upgrade to the Pebble, it adds a lot of premium materials to the
 construction, we're using stainless steel, we're using Corning Gorilla Glass, but at
 its core it's still a Pebble, it talks to your iPhone or your Android phone and it brings
 all the same notifications and apps and other features that you've come to expect from
 your Pebble.
 It's now just in a little bit more of an elegant or more stylish watch case.
 And what drove the decision to move to steel as the main construction component?
 We actually borrowed a lot of the techniques and a lot of the components from the classic
 watchmaking industry.
 We even went overseas to find a factory that had experience building sort of higher end
 classic watches.
 So we used stainless steel 316, which is a pretty high quality material.
 We also CNC mill every single Pebble that comes off the line.
 We make sure that all the seals are tight and all the dimensions are perfect, partly
 because we've maintained the exact same waterproofing rating for the first Pebble, Pebble Steel's
 waterproof to 5 atmospheres.
 And the idea of keeping it waterproof kind of goes with our philosophy of making sure
 that Pebble will mesh perfectly into your everyday life.
 We've maintained all the other features like a 5 to 7 day long battery life.
 We've even made it a bit smaller and more compact, reducing the border area around the
 display.
 Really because we wanted to make a watch that can get onto more people's wrists around
 the world.
 And then once it's on the wrist, then we can provide that smart functionality like the
 notifications and the apps and stuff like that.
 So one of the reactions was from our editor in chief, Josh Dupolsky, who only saw pictures
 of the new Pebble and he said that it was the first smart watch that he would consider
 buying and owning and actually feeling proud of.
 So was that part of your drive behind the design to get those people who wouldn't consider
 buying a smart watch to go for the Pebble Steel?
 Definitely.
 I mean that was some of the feedback that we got right at the beginning of Pebble.
 People loved the idea of Pebble and they started putting it on their wrist when they did activities
 like swimming or biking or hiking.
 But we got people who said, you know, I love it but I'm just not going to be able to put
 it on when I go out for dinner or when I go to the office.
 So with Pebble Steel, we're hoping to be able to provide the same smart functionality
 to people who just want to wear a more stylish watch or a different design on their wrist.
 You have OS 2.0, which you're going to be releasing at the end of this month, January
 2014.
 That's around the time when you properly launch your app store and it's around the time that
 the Pebble Steel will be arriving.
 Yeah, it's kind of our forward push for 2014.
 I think that in 2014, Pebble will represent more than just the hardware.
 I think the actual functionality will be driven by the apps that people create around the
 platform.
 And up until this point, it's been a bit of a creative process to find apps for Pebble.
 We didn't have a centralized app repository, so there's been a lot of community-sponsored
 projects like My Pebble Faces and the Pebble forums that have popped up to kind of fill
 the void.
 There's people that are sharing apps on Facebook, on Reddit, all over the internet.
 With the Pebble app store, developers now have a consolidated single point of contact
 where they can upload their apps and get their app distributed to over 300,000 people around
 the world.
 Well, since you started shipping the original Pebble, there have been plenty of other smart
 watches showing up on the market, Samsung, so many they've come up with new iterations.
 What do you think that is?
 Where does this popularity come from?
 Well, I think other smart watches in the market, it's not necessarily a new thing.
 Even before we launched Pebble, there were, I think, one or two versions of the Sony smart
 watch.
 There was this Moto Active.
 So there's always been a lot of sort of movement in this market.
 I think what's interesting to me is just the fact that most of the other people who are
 making products are taking a very different stance towards what the product is meant to
 do in your everyday life than Pebble.
 For us, we're all about meshing with your everyday life.
 So it's about making a product that doesn't force you to conform to the product, that
 conforms to your own life and offers more of a companion to your smartphone rather than
 a replacement.
 And I think that's kind of our guiding principle right now, both when we design Pebble and
 Pebble Steel, as well as the software that we make.
 That will be something that we continue forward with.
 We're bought into that idea.
 We believe that the best product on your wrist is one that works best for the circumstances
 that it's built for, and the expanded functionality can be left on your phone.
 So that's kind of our guiding principle.
 And I think over time, you'll see more and more smart watches and wearables that kind
 of, I guess, try to cram a lot of gear onto your wrist.
 But at the end of the day, that's just not exactly what we're trying to do.
 That's beautiful.
 That's exactly the way that I feel.
 And it's the thing that attracted me to the original Pebble.
 And we're seeing that from our users as well.
 And on top of that, that informs our app and software decisions, figuring out which components
 of the app we want to include on the watch.
 It's kind of governed by that same principle.
 You don't want to have to write an email or answer an email or anything on your wrist.
 You might want to do a quick response or a canned reply.
 But there's quite a division of labor between what's sitting in your pocket or in your bag
 and what's on your body.
 So outside of the iPhone and Android devices, what about Windows Phone and other mobile
 platforms?
 We've been looking at them.
 I mean, we have some avid users within the office of these other platforms as well.
 For us, it's kind of a priorities thing.
 We have two major platforms to tackle already.
 And providing excellent functionality to both iOS and Android users is still our prime goal.
 We're exploring it.
 There's actually a lot of people who have started developing third-party Pebble apps
 for both Windows Phone as well as BlackBerry 10.
 We've tried them all, and they're pretty awesome.
 We're supporting people where we can, helping publish more parts of our API.
 I think that as a company, we'll probably continue focusing on iOS and Android.
 But I think we're going to try to do our part to the community and make more and more pieces
 of the Pebble API open source so that people can interact with Pebble when they need to.
 And just to speak about the future, there are a few queries that we have.
 Our Korean intern was interested about other languages, your support for other languages,
 whether you might be considering that.
 Yeah, it's a question that we get on a daily basis.
 It's also a problem that we've been thinking about a lot.
 How do you build expanded language functionality into such a small and portable device like Pebble?
 It's a problem that we're actively working on.
 We don't have an ETA or anything like that that we can announce.
 But it's actively one of our top requested features right now, offering expanded language support.
 And the thing that goes hand in hand with that is expanded markets.
 When will we get some of this in Europe?
 That's the thing that I'm really wondering about.
 Well, we've been shipping Pebble worldwide from our website.
 And it's kind of interesting.
 We've actually gotten a massive amount of orders on our website from outside of the US.
 I think we're close to around 50-50 right now, orders that are coming from inside the US to around the world.
 I think it's cool.
 We're pushing forward on international compatibility.
 But I think that even today it's quite an accessible product that people can pick up.
 In fact, with Pebble Steel, we're offering free worldwide courier.
 So anyone in the world can buy a Pebble for $249 with free shipping.
 From January 28th.
 Well, they can pre-order it now.
 Exactly.
 And get it on January 28th.
 All right.
 Thank you very much for your time, Eric.
 Thanks, Brian.
 I appreciate it.