Pebble Smart Watch Starts Shipping (Well, Less Than 500 of Them)

One of the more closely watched little gadgets, the Pebble smart watch is finally making its way into the hands of its Kickstarter backers, according to an update sent to them today.

That means that the startup device maker — which was originally supposed to ship the watches last fall, before $10 million worth of demand derailed its plans — is actually hitting the deadline it set a few weeks ago at CES.

But there are caveats. Fewer than 500 watches will be shipped today (and some shipping confirmations are apparently accidentally going to people whose Pebbles aren’t actually ready), the iOS app hasn’t been approved by Apple yet, and only black Pebbles are available.

Pebble backers can’t yet visit the company’s site to see when their own device will ship. That’s also supposed to be coming soon.

Pebble is an e-paper watch that acts as a secondary display and control for wearers’ Android and iPhone smartphones using Bluetooth. Some 85,000 of them have been effectively ordered.