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Apple Offers Expedited Apple Watch Order Lottery To Developers
An anonymous reader writes: Apple is sending out invites to random registered developers, giving them the chance to buy an Apple Watch with guaranteed delivery by the end of the month. "Special Opportunity for an Expedited Apple Watch Order," the invite email states. "We want to help give Apple developers the opportunity to test their WatchKit apps on Apple Watch as soon as it is available. You have the chance to purchase one (1) Apple Watch Sport with 42mm Silver Aluminum Case and Blue Sport Band that's guaranteed to ship by April 28, 2015."
It's like MacRumors, but three days late.
If you want useful apps that work well, you WANT developers to be the first to get watches, so they can test applications to see how they behave in real life.
It's not going to be very many compared to the total sold, and all indications are the one they are selling is one of the less popular models...
You might say, well anyone could jump the queue then buy buying a developer program membership. But it's not that easy; as the headline mentions it's a bit of f "lottery" - I'm an iOS developer, and I did not get an email about a launch watch purchase, nor did any of the other iOS developers I asked.
There've been many other products that developers had early access to, much less shipping on launch day access - so I don't see why there would be any fuss around this.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Hmm, seems like Tim Cook (or his PR folks) have been reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:
If you ask reaaaaal nicely, they'll let you buy their product.
And yet the sheep keep baaaaarging in...
Isn't buying the watch gambling enough?
Table-ized A.I.
Because none are interested.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
"Apple Watch Sport with 42mm Silver Aluminum Case and Blue Sport Band"
AKA "the one no body wants".
Yeah. Must be the buyers who are braindead, not people like yourself (and CmdrTaco) who can't see what Apple actually does bring to the table.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
I just sent it to my spam folder with the rest of the marketing BS I get on a daily basis. Since when does Apple hold lotteries? And since when does "lottery" mean "I pay full price for the product; I just get mine shipped first?" We used to just call that "expedited shipping," and retailers tacked on a small convenience fee for it.
Congrats, you've won the opportunity to buy a Google Glass... I mean Apple Watch! We promise it's not an over-hyped still-born technology.
It doesn't mean an Apple Watch you ordered ships earlier; it means Apple will let you buy ANOTHER watch, only the 42mm Silver blue band Sport, in order to have one shortly after launch day for testing your app (since only developers can purchase these and offers are tied to your specific developer ID).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
That is my guess as to why these emails were not sent out sooner. From pre-orders Apple knows now what are the less popular watch models so this one is probably the bottom of the list (most people from the sound of it like the dark bodies more than the silver). That makes it less likely someone would buy one to re-sell, or just to order to have a watch early instead of actually needing one to to testing with, and thus any developer sales will not really affect shipping dates for anyone who ordered this model since they probably already had enough of them made to ship out some extras.
I also think that as the emails get sent out, Apple waits a day or so to see if the person bites, then they send someone else an email... I have no idea how they choose who to send these to, as I'm an iOS developer working on an Apple Watch compatible app and I didn't get one.
I would have thought the blue band was one of the more popular band colors, but perhaps not. Or perhaps that's to make up for having to get the silver watch... :-)
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
if you really want to know:
1) Style (which is obviously a matter of opinion but lots of people like the style)
2) Build quality (better seams/materials)
3) Battery Life (Seems a lot better than all but the Pebble)
4) Tighter control of watch notifications (rather than funneling everything to the watch you choose which notifications can go through to the watch).
5) Glances, where are short lived application status screens you can see quickly.
6) Taptic feedback, which can be really nice over buzzing or sound and can tap you on a "side" of the watch apparently.
Those are the main points I can think of now. I think the main uses of the watch for most people will resolve around glances, I think a lot of people are getting watch apps all wrong by thinking the actual app will be opened much at all. Also if a watch app "pollutes" my set of Glances with a useless screen, I'll probably end up deleting the whole app from the phone.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Isn't buying the watch gambling enough?
How is this gambling?
Apple is going to support the watch for a long time to come, as you can tell they are very attached to these things. It's gotten way more of a full media push than the AppleTV ever did, for example - and they still sell AppleTV's many years after launch.
Lots of people are buying the watch, and shipping times are quite far out now - so if you get one and find you do not like it, you can resell it pretty easily (not to mention you can just return it for a week or two after you have it if you do not like it).
Application developers have already done a ton of updates that support the watch, so it's not like there will not be massive developer effort behind getting applications to work as well with the watch as they possibly can.
If you have any interest in a smart watch at all, buying an Apple Watch seems much less a gamble than other watches. I bought a Pebble Time also; to me that seems more of a gamble but I want to support alternatives in the market and to me that's the most distinct in term of ideology around how a smart watch should work.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Just Apple ones.
I bought the iPhone at launch and never regretted that at all, if for no other reason than a handful of the built in apps. Safari as you mentioned worked really well (I don't recall it crashing much) but for me the main thing was mobile maps... that alone made being the whole early adopter worth it.
I think the same will be true of the Apple Watch for most people. Some things as you say will be primitive or slow or what have you, but there will be one or two things that are REALLY useful for someone to make the whole early experience worthwhile. I think what those one or two things are, will vary for people a lot more than they did on the original iPhone... especially since the watch DOES have full developer support out of the gate.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
they're smart. And maybe you are consistently wrong (by your own admission) because you're stupid. That's the only explanation that fits all available evidence.
Can you get it through your head that I'm not an Apple fanboy?
Android wear supports maps (although kind of limited).
Pebble time kind of does, although the guide there to get turn by turn directions is pretty much a hack. There are links in that article to real maps apps but they just display maps I think.
Or did you just mean the built in apps I guess? I think Wear has at least some minimal map app included.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
However in the real world...
1) I think the word you are looking for is 'fashion' as in people think having an iwatch ion their wrist will somehow make them cool. good luck with that.
2) I can only assume you have not actually looked at the competition on this one.
3) And again, you missed the fact that most of the Android watches last longer? Even Apple dont rate their watch for 24 whole hours.
4) You mean just like android?
5) Um, what? is that in some way an apple only feature? Oh, I see. because apple use THAT name for it it is somehow special. hmmm.
6) Yes, a nice and effective way to reduce battery life even further. Enjoy.
BTW I do like your rationalisation at the end where anything that doesnt quite work properly must not be needed, so you can just bin it ;)
Thank god that outside the Apple walled garden there is some choice - hell, you can even get WATCH shaped watches ;)
There once was a time when I looked forward to Apple's new products. Without being an iCult member, repeating all I heard from the fearless Apple leaders, I could appreciate the design and market leadership. I didn't always buy the stuff, but I once knew when I looked at new a Apple product I was seeing the future of consumer electronics.
Apple hasn't marketed a good new idea in three years. And it isn't even a new idea. Android tried and failed about a year ago. It turns out, people prefer lightweight watches, with faces they can read, that don't have to get recharged on a weekly basis. Making a smart watch, when everyone carries smart phones is a bit of a redundant novelty.
It is kind of sad to see Apple go in this direction.
Revolution is the opium of the intellectuals.
1 I think the word you are looking for is 'fashion' as in people think having an iwatch ion their wrist will somehow make them cool.
Well actually that aspect is working just fine for a number of celebrities, so all I have to say is good luck arguing against the Apple Watch being part of popular fashion with Beyonce wearing one!
I personally think a lot of people will buy one because it is functional, and simply not ugly as is the case with many other smart watches. That is a concern for many people.
2. I can only assume you have not actually looked at the competition on this one.
You mean "felt" right? Please tell me you meant felt, because that was the whole point... yes I have. I have a good friend who loves her Samsung smartwatch. I've used a Motorola watch briefly, and also older Pebbles. The Motorola LOOKS nice (well, sort of, I find it too large) but just is not built as well. I've ordered a Pebble Time myself, so we'll see how that is.
3) And again, you missed the fact that most of the Android watches last longer?
Sorry, I thought we were talking about actual battery life, not pretend numbers that Android Wear makers like to produce.
4) You mean just like android?
How can you block a notification for Android Wear for an app that does not have a corresponding Wear app? Blocking of notifications seemed to require that. Not every app is going to have a Wear app (or Apple Watch app for that matter). You surely can't mean that applications that only run on your phone cannot have notifications appear on your watch, as that would render the watch essentially useless for notification management.
5) Um, what? is that in some way an apple only feature?
What are you thinking they are? Cards? That's not really the same thing. Those are really apps in Glance clothing. Way too many possibilities for expansion or stacking.
6) Yes, a nice and effective way to reduce battery life even further
Someone who obviously doesn't understand comparative power drain of tapping vs. even a short vibration... or how much more useful directional taps are than even vibration patterns.
BTW I do like your rationalisation at the end where anything that doesnt quite work properly must not be needed
??? what I said was that even IF an app is desired/needed I will cull it if it's too noisy on what needs to be a very minimal interface (also a primary design concern for Android Wear by the way).
I'm a developer, so I understand both systems. You appear just to be against Apple even when they have good ideas, and have not really looked in depth into how the Apple Watch varies from Android Wear, or Pebble.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It turns out, people prefer lightweight watches, with faces they can read, that don't have to get recharged on a weekly basis.
That doesn't make any sense based on initial sales, and who is buying them.
What about the people who prefer NO WATCH (like myself) that are moving back to wearing watches just because of the added features smart watches offer?
It's way to early to say what people "prefer". I would say for a long time, that a large majority of people will be wearing "normal" watches, but that's simply because of cost. Saying what they would PREFER to have is a whole different ballgame.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Apple did invite a number of developers to test Apple Watch apps at the Apple campus, I think back in January. I didm't get an invite for that, a friend of mine did. I don't think it's feasible for them to have got such new hardware into many developers hands earlier. I think possibly if you had asked Apple and had an app to test at that time they would have let you in (I didn't try as I wasn't ready to test then).
I'm sure if you got the email you'll be able to buy one, otherwise everyone would get the email instead of a handful.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Better answer, because if you don't, he's coming to your home!
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
$20 to the charity of your choice says it won't receive software updates in 2018, despite known vulnerabilities.
What "vulnerabilities"? You don't run code on the watch. It doesn't browse the web.
Also an open question how upgrades will really work - like say if in two years you get a new replacement module for the core of the watch. Or you simply get a large discount on a newer model by trading in your current watch center, but you keep the bands... lots of ways to play it to make it all work out well for purchasers.
There are too many open questions for how this all works yet to claim the watch cannot be upgraded in an away, or that even matters...
Who buys a smartwatch for more than $100?
That's really the wrong way to look at anything that improves your life, for any amount of time. I would personally say any purchase of ANY normal watch for any amount is a sucker purchase, but that's because what they do has little value to me. And yet people all over the world buy watches every day.
Even if the watch dropped dead in one years time and I had to buy a new one from scratch (which will not happen because warranty+Applecare) it would still have enough value to me to be worth purchasing, the same way an iPhone is expensive but has a ton of value to me.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Apple just wants people to buy their watch...
Which people will not continue to do unless there are apps that work well. Initial reviews are important to mid-to-long term success, and over a longer term to customer satisfaction that leads to purchase of further upgrades (or, for the more cynical, accessories where we all know the real money is).
Even ascribing the most cash-driven motives to Apple still yields a better payoff by getting developers watches early.
In fact you could easily ascribe the desire for Apple to get watches to developers early as being driven solely by the impact on accessory sales alone.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If I was a developer I would have dismissed the email as spam after reading that subject line...
I envision a bunch of developers with a pair of Google Glass on their desk, layered in dust, just waiting for something new and shiny to work on.