Pebble, the overnight smartwatch success on Kickstarter, has announced that it will finally receive RunKeeper app integration.
This announcement marks the release of the first dedicated app created for Pebble. This deal was struck between Pebble’s developers and RunKeeper’s creators long before the smartwatch’s release, and even before its posting on the crowdfunding site. A wise decision as, with most devices, the hardware may be the best that money can buy, but if it doesn’t have a good app market or ecosystem, it’ll fall out of favor with consumers.
RunKeeper is, as its name would suggest, an app that helps track your workout time and other fitness stats. The smartphone tracks how far you run via GPS and, through Bluetooth, sends that information to the Pebble watch. This system allows you to simply look down at your wrist to quickly check your stats during your workout, rather than distracting yourself fiddling around with your phone.
But Pebble might not be the only wearable tech getting RunKeeper integration. Founder, Jason Jacobs, is looking to work with Google to make its app available for Glass. In a recent post on Pocket-Lint, Jacobs said, “We integrated with Jawbone last week. Would love to integrate with Glass.” But making deals with big hardware developers might not be as easy as it is with independent ones, like Pebble. Jacobs tweeted his desire to strike a deal with Nike recently, but sounded doubtful that it would work out.
RunKeeper is currently available for iOS and Android smartphones in the iTunes and Google Play stores.
Source: Pocket-Lint
