Customers in Australia and other time-forward countries began receiving their Apple Watch orders earlier today, and the folks at iFixit have acquired a 38mm Sport Apple Watch, and have begun their customary teardown process.
After prying the display off, the team gained access to the battery—which at 205 mAh is tiny compared to the Moto360's 300 mAh battery—the new Digital Crown and Taptic Engine, and yes—the mysterious diagnostic port is still there.
Apple has begun notifying developers who signed up for the Apple Watch Sport lottery on the Developer Center if they have been randomly selected to make the purchase. It allows many who pay the $100 iOS Developer Program fee to bypass the long waitlist of Apple Watch orders the public is facing and get the Watch earlier.
Samsung wants developer to remember there is actually a world outside of the Apple ecosystem. No, not the Android Wear world. The Samsung Tizen world! In a press release conveniently published on April 24 (it's already tomorrow in Korea), Samsung is inviting developers to help build the next Samsung wearable prior to its launch.
In order to better distinguish between regular iPhone applications and those with added Apple Watch functionality, a new 'Offers Apple Watch App' label is now available in the App Store across the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. It's also found when browsing Watch-compatible iOS apps in the App Store section of iTunes for Mac/Windows PCs.
When available, the label appears right below the app icon on individual app pages and in search results, making it easier to discover Apple Watch apps.
The official Twitter application for the iPhone and iPad is now showing certain apps on profile pages, as noted by Twitter user 'ryan'. It's a silent refresh on Twitter's backend, meaning no update is necessary to your existing copy of Twitter for iOS. The web interface is unaffected by this nifty little change.
For the time being, it seems that mostly applications from major publications and brands are being highlighted, including ones by The New York Times and BuzzFeed, among others. In addition to branded news apps, other notable brands include Spotify and Twitter's own Periscope.
AppleInsider reports that Apple is planning a refresh of its iPod touch later this year, citing a "source familiar with Apple's future product plans." It's not clear if the refresh will affect multiple versions of the iPod, however the report notes at least one model will be reintroduced at a time when Apple's music services are getting a revamp under Beats.
As part of a flurry of updates related to Apple Watch ahead of tomorrow's first batch of shipments, Apple on Thursday updated its TestFlight application with ability to install and beta test apps on your Apple Watch.
With today's update, iOS developers no longer must exclude the WatchKit binaries when uploading iPhone and iPad apps with WatchKit functionality to iTunes.
If you're running iOS 8.2 or iOS 8.3, you can view the Apple Watch App Store right now. Simply open up the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, and tap the App Store tab. If you don't yet see the App Store interface, you can use our refresh trick to reload the interface to view the Apple Watch App Store.
Apple has updated the App Store to showcase Apple Watch screenshots for apps that support the Apple Watch. The screenshots are displayed beneath the traditional screenshots for the app on the iPhone. In addition to these screenshots, there is a notation beneath every app that features an Apple Watch app, making it easier to discover apps thats support Apple's new wearable device.
Apple on Thursday posted its official Apple Watch User Guide to the web, offering information and instructions on all of the wearable's major features and functions. The move follows the rollout of the Apple Watch App Store, and the seeding of the first Watch firmware update, as Apple prepares for folks to start receiving their Watch orders tomorrow.
The very first Apple Watch firmware has been released as an OTA update. The firmware, which Apple is branding Watch OS, is actually a modified version of iOS 8.2, similar to how the Apple TV uses iOS firmware as a base.
The 38mm Apple Watch is ID'd as Watch1,1, and the 42mm version is ID'd as Watch1,2. As noted by developer Steve Troughton-Smith, the firmware is heavily based on iOS 8.2 and features a PowerVR SGX543 driver. As yo may recall the SGX543 was integrated on the A5 SoC's that powered hardware like the iPad 2, and iPhone 4s.
Apple has shared with BuzzFeed that the App Store for the Apple Watch will be launching on Thursday, one day before the Apple Watch will be on the wrists of Apple fans around the world.
Update: The Watch App Store is now live.