Dammit, Not Again!

The new [easyazon_link asin=”B00KVHEL8E” locale=”US” new_window=”default” nofollow=”default” tag=”bestsmartwatchescomparedweb-20″ add_to_cart=”default” cloaking=”default” localization=”default” popups=”default”]Pebble Steel[/easyazon_link] made its public debut in December, 2013, to thunderous applause.

The Steel’s new hardened case, Gorilla Glass display, swappable bands and high-end styling attracted a lot of attention and garnered generally positive reviews from fans (like us) and journalists who cover the smart watch market.

Unfortunately, though, it looks like Pebble’s is having trouble meeting demand (again).

Which means their most ardent fans aren’t happy (again).

To Pebble’s credit, the company hosts an online public forum (registration required) where fans and owners can post pretty much anything they want. Pebble highlights the most active threads on its front page whether the comments are positive or negative. We appreciate a company who supports free speech, even when it’s not working in their favor.

3 Month Wait For First Buyers

On Pebble’s forum right now there is a lively discussion (66 pages of comments!) among early buyers of the Steel about their shipping delays.

Many early buyers on the thread are complaining about the company’s unwillingness to share updates and status. But because Pebble likely communicates about these matters privately with their customers, we have no way of knowing the truth.

Here are some of the comments to give you a feel for the general sentiment:

Slow Progress

Frustration with Pebble’s delays has gotten so bad that a Pebble forum user named Peter05 actually took the time to analyze 53 pages of comments about shipping delays.

He tallied data regarding ship date vs. order date for unhappy early buyers of the Steel and plotted it in a chart to illustrate the facts:

Note the vertical axis, time lag between order and shipping: some of January’s early orders still haven’t shipped!

In the thread, Pebble recently stated that all first-day orders have shipped and remaining January orders will continue to ship into mid-April. That works out to a 12 week turnaround for the earliest January buyers.

There is good news, however.

As you can see in the graph above, the delay between order and shipment declines steadily between the first and last week of January. This indicates to us that Pebble probably experienced a several week delay getting their production up to speed, but is now gaining ground. For whatever reason, [easyazon_link asin=”B00IVX0XGO” locale=”US” new_window=”default” nofollow=”default” tag=”bestsmartwatchescomparedweb-20″ add_to_cart=”default” cloaking=”default” localization=”default” popups=”default”]Black Matte[/easyazon_link] seems to be having a harder time catching up.

While Pebble is clearly not moving fast enough to satisfy early Pebble Steel buyers, all of this noise may simply mean that Pebble has another hit on their hands.