Pebble Time backers have been warned that their smartwatches may now not arrive until early June, having been promised to ship in May. News of the delay comes in the latest update to backers of the Pebble Time, which earlier this year became the best funded project in the history of Kickstarter.
Pebble says mass manufacture of its latest smartwatch will start this week, a week later than originally planned. The company says the factory will "manufacture smaller quantities of Pebble Times to start, and then steadily ramp up to maximum production capacity" in mid-May.
Once production reaches full tilt, "master cartons" will be sent to distribution centres around the world, a process that can take another 10 days. Only then are the cartons split into individual orders for posting to customers, with Pebble promising that customers will be able to track their shipment from the distributor.
Pebble Time purchases will be fulfilled in order, with those who were first to back the device theoretically getting their watches first. "At this rate, most May backers will see their watches ship this month," Pebble's update states. "Some later backers in May reward tiers will see watches ship during the first week of June."
The potential delay is another set-back for Pebble Time's European backers, who have already been warned that they may have to wait up to six weeks longer than US customers for their watch to arrive, because of delays in Customs. European orders are being fulfilled from Hong Kong. Pebble offered European backers the chance to pay extra for expedited delivery to ensure their watches weren't held back in Customs. Those potential delays had already prompted many customers to cancel their orders.
The latest news of delays has further agitated backers. "High shipping costs. Late shipping dates. I won't be backing you again - you have not been upfront with us," writes Jim Ryder on the Pebble Time Kickstarter page.
Others are more sanguine. "As one of the late backers, I'm probably being delayed until June," writes Harry Luong. "Not happy about it but also not that upset. I'll get it when it's ready. Glad pebble gave us an honest update. The watch and time lines look amazing!"
Of course, watching friends and family walking around with Apple Watches strapped to their wrist is probably causing irritation levels with Pebble shipping delays to rise...
