Pebble is the company behind the Pebble Smartwatch and ever since it launched its first product few years ago, the company has seen some competition from smartphone makers like Samsung, LG and Apple. This week, the company announced the new version of its smartwatch called the Steel and that announcement came along with some wonderful news for those that would like to develop for smartwatches. The Pebble App Store is coming and that will allow for developers to create apps for the Pebble Smartwatch that will work with iOS and Android powered devices in the future.
Right now, the Pebble App Store only shows up in the iTunes App Store, but it is expected to show up in the Android market very soon. The Pebble Smartwatch launched as a very successful Kickstarter company and has since brought companies like Amazon and Best Buy to offer the smartwatch. The Pebble Steel is shipping today and that is part of an upgraded version that was launched with the Kickstarter campaign. The Pebble Steel was also showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show this year and many positive reviews came from that as well.
The Pebble App Store was also shown to a select crowd at the CES this year and it looks like the company improved the overall experience a lot compared to the older versions. The first app made for iOS was considered to be too limited and while more apps showed up in the Google Play Store users still wanted to see more for iOS. Android apps took lead from Apple as the Google does not restrict the third party applications as much as Apple does. The new Pebble App Store comes in three sections including My Pebble, Get Watchfaces and Get Apps, allowing users to easily customize their experience.
The Pebble Smartwatch will hold about 8 apps or watchfaces and that is why an App Locker was added to the Pebble. The apps are then stored temporarily so that the next time you want to use them you do not have to search around the store for them. The apps than can be quickly installed, but the process is not as fast as loading an application. Without the Locker the interface would become too crowded and would defeat the purpose of some of the watchfaces you might have downloaded.
