We caught up today with George Mikaberydze, CEO of the controversial startup Healbe. In a conversation at CE Week, Mikaberydze told Wearable Tech Insider that the GoBe was currently in production and would ship 14,000 units to its Indiegogo backers and pre-orders in August and September of this year. He also said that he was in discussions with other distributors, including Apple, and said he expected to ship 50,000 units by the end of this year.
Healbe, you may remember, raised more than $1 million on Indiegogo, despite medical claims that some find not credible. Others disagree. Mikaberydze repeated his claims to us today; when pressed about why others weren’t following on the same supposed science, he shrugged and said, “Why is only Tesla making Tesla?”
If Healbe had made its original ship date of June, it would have been ahead of the next wave of fitness trackers. As it is, it will hit the mass market at the same time as a huge wave of other similar products. If it works as claims, it may survive its aggressively dorky design. If not, there are people who bought about 5,000 units on Indiegogo for a campaign of more than $1 million, and they’re going to be very disappointed…