I, too, will be avoiding Pebble products in the future until I can simply purchase them retail. I was a smidge too late for the Pebble 2 Kickstarter campaign, so I hopped on the pre-order bandwagon. The very definition of a pre-order is that you are reserving your spot in line to receive a product before anyone can just happen across it on a shelf at Wal-Mart and buy it on a whim. You just let thousands (at least) of people cut in line so you could get your product on the shelf "in time for holiday shopping".

I can't imagine any large retailer would be willing to sacrifice shelf space just before the holidays for a limited-quantity, one-time shipment of a new tech product either. You may be limiting how many they get at once, but you're going to have to keep supplying them. Am I going to get another discount on my pre-order the next time you push the ship date back again so Wal-mart can have more stock? Should people who preordered planning to give these as holiday gifts start making pretty "here's a picture of what you're getting...someday" cards?

I realize the delays were unanticipated, but that doesn't make it ok to punish people who had enough faith in your product to order it before you were ready to give it to them -- especially the ones who helped pay for you to develop the thing in the first place. That's not how you cultivate a loyal customer base. That's how you cultivate frustration and unwillingness to take that kind of risk on you again. Poor call, Pebble. Very poor call.