Apple’s Watch is to be released with a range of apps by developers who haven’t used an Apple Watch yet. For these developers, it is hard to know what makes a good Watch app, how an app should look, and what the app should aim to do. Simplicity is the current requirement, along with a list of guidelines from Apple on app development.
The Watch is a device no one has used yet, and so it’s unknown how people will end up using this technology. A few Watch app developers have said the best apps will give a small bit of information on the screen, prompting the user to move to their corresponding iPhone app for more detail. This is a useful addition, as it means having to look less as your iPhone for information. Will it, however, mean that users look at their wrist more often? Or what it apps send too many notifications, does a user really want notification to be going off constantly on their wrist? And how many iPhone users will want to buy a device that may possibly only tell them to look at their iPhone?
Evernote’s Watch app stores notes relevant to what you’re doing on the device for easy access. It the note is needed for a longer read than three to five seconds, you are prompted to go to your phone. The app for the New York Times is similar. You will get a little more information that a headline on the Watch screen. From there, you can decide to discard, add to a list to read later, or take our your phone to read the article now.
Those who are the original adopters of this device will need to understand this is a first generation device. There have been a few issues with various apps in regards to performance and speed. The Watch is not an iPhone, and doesn’t have the same capabilities. The device is limited in what it can do, and many people may not see any value in owning one. As developers learn what users want and smart watch technology improves, so will the functions and capabilities of these devices.
There are 2277 approved watch apps, which changed to 2281 as I was browsing the choices. There are apps available for food, shopping, education, finance and tax, messaging, time management, news, fitness, GPS and much more. How these apps work on the Watch will be and what impact they have will be experienced by the first adopters.
Source: TheVerge, WatchAWare
