Pebble Launches A Preview SDK With Color Support For The New Pebble Time

The Pebble Time is still going strong on Kickstarter, but Pebble is already thinking about the device’s launch in May, and is accordingly making tools available early to help both existing and new developers target the platform. A new developer preview of the Pebble SDK 3.0 is now available, and it includes a software emulator that shows you how your apps will look on the Pebble Time’s new full color e-paper display.

Apps built with the new software will work on both previous Pebbles and the new Pebble Time, and the company says that only minor changes are required in order to help devs add color to their existing applications. Resolution for the apps doesn’t change, but developers can now code in up to 64 colors, and there’s a new animation framework, plus support for both static and animated PNG.

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It’s just a start, but it’s a signal that the startup is moving full steam ahead with its launch plans. The Kickstarter portion of this project isn’t your typical crowdfunding campaign – after selling Pebble successfully for over a year with more than 1 million devices shipped, Pebble should know exactly what it takes to deliver this product on time, and early access to dev tools is definitely part of that.

One thing that might be a challenge: Getting developers to focus on building Pebble apps when the Apple Watch launch is right around the corner.