Until today, development of apps for Apple’s upcoming Watch wearable were in the hands of a few pre-chosen partners. But now the time has come for regular developers to be set loose on the Apple Watch, which could see a flood of nifty (and not-so-nifty) apps emerging in the coming weeks.
Through its developer blog, Apple announced yesterday that it was opening Watch up to all of its registered developers. Apple also suggested that prospective app creators get a wiggle on if they want their creation reviewed and ratified ahead of the device’s launch date of April 24th.
Apps for the Watch will be made available to consumers as extensions for existing apps. Once the Watch apps have been developed and greenlit, users will see an update notification for the original app on their iPhone or iPad. When they tap into the App Store, they’ll then see an Apple Watch extension before they update, so they know the tweak is aimed at Apple’s premier timepiece.
In addition to letting devs know that it’s time to start work with their WatchKit framework, Apple’s short bulletin also linked developers through to a tutorial page, walking them through the process of readying their app and submitting it for review.
The holy collective of chosen developers have already delivered their updates and apps like Evernote, Expedia, The Wall Street Journal and NYTimes have been optimised for use on the device well ahead of the wearable’s high street launch.
If you’re keen to jump on the Apple Watch bandwagon, you can pre-order the device from April 10th with a view to it shipping on April 24th. Despite analysts predicting a tepid launch, there’s bound to be no end of Apple fans waiting to get a hold of a Watch on day one, so it might be an idea to get in early to avoid disappointment.
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