Remember the BlackBerry watch? Its creator, UW VeloCity grad Eric Migicovsky, is now following up with a next-generation watch for iPhone and Android, and he's already raised nearly $1 million in pre-sales since yesterday to bring it to market.
That's 10 times the $100,000 his company, Pebble Technology of Palo Alto, CA, set out to raise by May 18 - more than a month away.
Particularly notable is how Pebble has raised so much money so quickly - by crowdsourcing it through the Kickstarter fundraising site, proving there really is no substitute for the power of a good idea.
Migicovsky entered the VeloCity dormcubator program for its inaugural term in the fall of 2008, and developed the inPulse watch for BlackBerry as a fourth-year project. His company, Allerta, spent some time at the Communitech Hub and went through Y Combinator's accelerator program in Silicon Valley, where his team has developed the Pebble.
The customizable, Bluetooth-enabled watch links with iOS and Android smartphones and uses e-paper for outdoor readability. Apps will allow the Pebble to be used as a bike computer that taps into your phone's GPS, a music player and a golf rangefinder, among other uses.
For a video demo of the new watch, and to watch the dollars pile up in real time, tune in here. Warning: It's addictive.
