Apple Watch: The time is now for Apple Watch app development This is a moment you cannot ignore. The long-anticipated wearable Apple Watch release date is this Friday. You can visit your local Apple store now if you want to play with one on display! Pre-orders have been open since the 10th, and demand has been so high that shipping dates have stretched all the way into June. Over the next few months, we’ll be watching as perhaps several million people receive their Apple Watches in the mail and start using them as daily devices. This kind of product launch is a pretty big deal. It’s a driving force for businesses that can take advantage of a pristine new market—companies will be manufacturing new watchbands, screen protectors, and other peripherals, while on the software side app makers will be able to pounce on a huge user-base that is eager to find killer apps for their new $349 devices. That’s the starting Apple Watch price for the Sports model. The Apple Watch model starts at $549, and the Edition starts at a whopping $10,000. Sales Estimates The Apple Watch is a newsworthy device, so several analysts have taken a crack at estimating the number of pre-order sales that have been made. General consensus is that Apple sold between 1 and 2 million devices in the opening weekend. For comparison, analysts at Canalys pegged the total number of smart wrist-worn devices sold in 2014 at 4.6 million. Of those, Android Wear devices comprised only about 720,000. Pebble announced in December that it had achieved 1 million sales of its smartwatch. Given those numbers, Apple clearly has an opportunity to blow away the competition in terms of adoption, and early reports indicate they have done just that. By the end of the year, the Apple Watch will likely top sales charts by a wide margin. With the usual end-of-the-year sales boost helping to maximize first-year sales, it’s not outlandish to predict Apple will have sold many Apple Watches in 2015 as all their competitors combined. Apple Watch Platform Apple Watch is a platform that is waiting to be explored. App developers have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to build products and get noticed by millions of Apple Watch users ahead of the competition. Like the iPhone before it, the Apple Watch’s potential lies in the apps, and users are hungry for them. Apple Watch app ideas have enormous value for their early mover potential at this stage. Apps are already being showcased by Apple. It should be noted that these early apps require a connected iPhone. The WatchKit API is not yet fully featured to allow standalone apps, but Apple has stated the capability will be added later this year. Entrepreneurs and startups take your business a notch higher with iPhone app development and get big discounts on your Apple Watch app at SDI. Building Apps Apple Watch app design brings a few unique challenges which are interesting to overcome from a UX standpoint. The small screen and unique interface tools require some new design paradigms to properly utilize. If you’re thinking about app ideas, be sure to read up on Apple’s design recommendations to help flesh out your idea (they are a bit dense, so if you’d prefer to just work with a designer and let them handle it, that’s understandable). Software Developers India is open for Apple watch app development orders, available at low pricing for businesses of all sizes. SDI has been working with the Watchkit API for months now, and we are ready to assist you with professional Apple Watch app development and design services. If you are in the Bay Area, we would love to meet you and discuss your idea. You can also get in touch with us at team@sdi.la or call us on 408.805.0495 for a one on one design and development consultation with one of our Apple Watch development specialists.