Pebble drops price of smartwatch to $99

The company that helped launch the smartwatch trend is unveiling a price drop and the addition of a key new feature.

Pebble announced Tuesday it is cutting the price of its smartwatch from $150 to $99, while the fancier Pebble Steel will dip to $199.

The price cut is part of a larger push to draw more customers to the Pebble smartwatch, as competitors including Apple and Google enter the fray. The company is expanding availability to new retailers in the U.S. and Europe, including Sam's Club and Sprint stores.

Pebble will also include support for full activity tracking in the background. "This is something people have been hammering us for for a while," said Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky. "We wanted to take the time to do it right."

Wearable maker Misfit will create an app for Pebble that tracks activity and sleep patterns, while Jawbone will launch an Up app that serves as an activity-tracking watchface. Pebble will also include an app from Swim.com, where users can track swimming data like strokes and distance, then sync results to their smartphone once they're out of the pool.

"It doesn't revolutionize your life," says Migicovsky of his company's smartwatch. "It's meant to be something that you can slap on your wrist and make things better one little bit at a time."

Migicovsky didn't share specific numbers, but says Pebble sales are up. More importantly, according to Migicovsky, engagement with Pebble is rising. He cites a survey noting 75% of Pebble owners wear their watch more than 20 out of 30 days per month.

"We're looking to make a watch that people can use on a regular basis that adds a little bit of value here and there, and over time becomes part of what they put on in the morning," he says.

A lot has changed in the smartwatch market this year. Google jumped into the space with its line of Android Wear devices. Samsung continues to expand its Galaxy Gear line. Then there's Apple, which revealed the Apple Watch during an event earlier this month. The device starts at $349, and will launch next year.

Migicovsky says it's "wonderful" to see several new entrants in the smartwatch market, but says they're not aiming to compete with Apple Watch.

"We set out to make an affordable and accessible product," he says. "Apple has definitely taken a lot of what makes Pebble great, but they've created much more of a luxury product."

Pebble has continued expanding features as more companies venture into smartwatches. Earlier this year, Pebble launched an official app store, which boasts 4,000 apps that have been downloaded 5 million times. It has attracted big partners including Foursquare, ESPN and The Weather Channel, which recently launched a watchface that provides local weather forecasts.

"We want to make sure we build a product people can actually buy and use on a regular basis," says Migicovsky. "We're trying to build a platform."

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.