At the start of January, a group of Nokia refugees in Copenhagen launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new wristwatch. And it’s quite a different beast from the Pebble, that greater poster-child for the crowdfunding platform; this one, the Leikr, does color maps too.
It’s a handy feature for runners — the maps use OpenStreetMap data and can integrate routes and online analytics with fitness app Endomondo — and it reflects the fact that the ex-Nokians in question are themselves keen athletes.
And now it’s definitely going to happen. The Leikr campaign shot for $ 250,000 and scored $ 267,389 at its closing a couple days ago. According to Seed Capital, which has already invested in Leikr company Acorn (not to be confused with the British computer manufacturer that spawned ARM some 23 years ago), this is a record for any Danish Kickstarter project.
The Leikr displays its maps and six data tiles on a 2-inch screen protected by Gorilla Glass, and it comes with downloadable workouts. One of the main features for athletes, though, is the zippy GPS fix time: 30 seconds max, apparently. I hear (I’ve not dived into the whole sports watch thing myself yet) that this is a sore point for rivals such as the Nike+ SportWatch.
The first units of the Leikr should be delivered in the U.S. sometime in the summer. With this and Jolla now going concerns, I wonder what else we will see come out of the Nokia-downsizing diaspora.
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