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In a lab shut off from communication with the outside world and where visitors can't bring in a pad of paper, let alone a phone, Apple has given some companies special early access to Apple Watch.
BMW, Facebook, United Continental Holdings and others have spent weeks at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California, working hands on with the smartwatch to test and fine-tune applications that will debut alongside the device next month, according to people familiar with the process.
Apple, which will share more details about the gadget at an event on Monday, uses extreme measures to keep the work secret. Internet access was blocked inside the rooms and no outside materials could be brought into the labs with the test watches, said a source. The companies, sometimes sharing a room, must bring in source code for their apps on a computer hard drive that couldn't leave Apple's headquarters. To prevent information from leaking out, Apple was storing the code and sending it to the companies closer to the watch's introduction date, the person said.
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As Apple's first new device since the iPad in 2010, the stakes are high for Apple Watch, and the sophistication of the apps available is critical in wooing buyers. Just as the App Store has been a key reason for the iPhone's success, tools for Apple Watch will help determine how customers use the gadget and whether it will be a sales hit. The watch must be paired with an iPhone to fully work, and anything less than seamless integration might alienate potential customers.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook will highlight watch applications at the event in San Francisco. Apple declined to comment ahead of the event. Jessie Baker, a spokeswoman for Facebook, declined to comment, as did United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson and a BMW representative.
Optimism over Apple's new products, including the watch, has helped raise the company's stock to record highs in recent weeks. Sales of the new device in the first financial year might stand at about 14 million, according to the average estimates of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Researcher Strategy Analytics projects Apple will account for 55 per cent of global smartwatch sales this year, when total shipments might stand at 28.1 million units, up from 4.6 million in 2014.
"Initial demand could be stronger than the iPhone and iPad when they were launched," Katy Huberty, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a note to investors this month. She estimates Apple might ship 30 million watches in the first 12 months, helping the company generate more than $6 billion in additional revenue.
Apple has made the yet-to-be-released watch available to some companies so they can test their apps, check for glitches and adjust the tools to the watch's design. Hundreds of applications might be available as soon as the watch reaches stores, said Jim Suva, an analyst at Citigroup.
For Apple and its developers, a major challenge is building applications that are useful without being annoying. Apple has recommended developers be judicious about interrupting people with constant alerts that will buzz their wrist or drain the battery. If desktop computers can be used for hours at a time, and smartphones for minutes, the watch is being measured in seconds. Apple is suggesting developers design their applications to be used for no longer than 10 seconds at a time.
"Not every e-mail that lands in your inbox deserves to jerk you away from what you're doing at that moment," said Shawn Carolan, co-founder of Handle, an e-mail and calendar productivity app, and an early investor in Siri, the voice-recognition company Apple bought in 2010. "If your watch is buzzing every 15 seconds with a notification, you will go crazy."
Apple has released design guidelines for building applications for the watch. Like those for the iPhone and iPad, a large team will screen every application to ensure it works and conforms to the company's policies. The tools under development give a glimpse of how Apple Watch can be used. There will be several fitness-tracking apps to take advantage of the watch's ability to measure movement.
Cook has also been touting its potential health benefits. "If I sit for too long, it will actually tap me on the wrist to remind me to get up and move because a lot of doctors believe that sitting is the new cancer," he said at a conference in February.
Social networks are creating versions of their apps. Facebook's Instagram has developed a programme to browse through photos and to be sent notifications when certain people post a picture. Twitter and Pinterest also will have applications. Airlines are building applications to check in to flights; automakers are developing software to help locate a car in a parking lot. Earlier this month, Cook had said the watch could unlock and turn on a car.
Not everyone is rushing to build watch apps. Slaven Radic, founder of Tapstream Network, an application marketing software company, works with app makers to improve their business. He has found many of his clients are holding back, especially as some are struggling to see an early use case. "It needs some development resources that are very precious for a lot of these guys. Most of them are taking the look-and-see approach," he said.
In working with Apple Watch, some developers have noticed problems, including slowness. The watch required an iPhone to work and the bluetooth connection between the phone and the watch led to lag time for some applications, a person said. Another challenge for developers is building software for an unreleased product.
At an event in November, more than 100 software coders spent a day at a San Francisco office competing in a hackathon to create applications for the device in less than 24 hours. While many focused on health, others built messaging products. One developer made a navigation app that would flash red if a person walked into a high-crime area.
