Pebble has announced that in early 2014, an official app store will be released for Pebble smartwatches. The app store will be included in the official Pebble smartphone app and will go live with the Pebble SDK 2.0.
An official app store is big for the company, which started with an incredible Kickstarter campaign. Many people forget that the original iPhone did not include an app store; once the app store was released is arguably when the iPhone took off.
So, based on the success of the Pebble, an app store is the next smart move. While there were a lot of third party options to install a different watch face, an official app store will open up the system and we will get to see more awesome things later down the road.
Six categories for apps were announced: Daily, Tools and Utilities, Remote, Notifications, Fitness and Games. There will be no charge for apps that are on the store during the launch, but if a companion app is used, charges could be introduced in that way.
Development is open to anyone and free of charge. Submitted apps will also not be pre-validated, but apps will be taken down if need be.
Pebble is definitely heading in the right direction by making it easier for consumers to customize and add apps to their smart watch. Putting everything under one roof will help make the watches take off and can only improve the ecosystem.
