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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."
Isn't buying the watch gambling enough?
Table-ized A.I.
"Apple Watch Sport with 42mm Silver Aluminum Case and Blue Sport Band"
AKA "the one no body wants".
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
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 ;)
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
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.
No, people like himself (and CmdrTaco) can see that what Apple actually does bring to the table is mostly marketing.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"