Kickstarter record-holder Pebble nabs RunKeeper as its first smartwatch app partner

Pebble has caused quite a stir since it came to light last month. Just to recap, Pebble is a slick e-paper smartwatch that connects to iPhone or Android, becoming only the fifth $1m Kickstarter project after just 28  hours, before breaking the crowdfunding platform’s $3.3m record with a whole month still to go. At the time of writing, it has raised almost $8m…with 16 days still on the clock.

Now, RunKeeper has announced a tie-up that will see the smart timepieces integrated with the fitness app when the Pebble watches finally become available.

We’re big fans of all things fitness & health here at The Next Web, and RunKeeper is at the forefront of the tech/fitness space. Available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7 and Symbian, RunKeeper is a mobile fitness platform for tracking and monitoring your every move, from running and hiking, to walking and cycling. And now that it has become the first app integration partner announced for Pebble, users will be able to view their in-activity fitness stats, start/stop their RunKeeper app and more, directly from their wrist.

“…when Pebble approached us about integrating with RunKeeper, we loved the idea,” says Jason Jacobs, RunKeeper’s co-founder and CEO. “We know that many of you are always looking for ways to make your fitness tracking easier, and with Pebble integration, you won’t ever have to pull the phone out of your pocket or armband – you can just see and do everything you need right from your watch, which connects with the phone via Bluetooth. Not to mention that quite a few of you have been requesting it in our support forum as well.”

So this may be a little on the premature side, given that the watches won’t be available for at least a few months, but this news will likely excite many keep-fit addicts. I know that I, for one, would much rather access my vital stats from a watch than a smartphone whilst I’m pounding the pavements.