Apple has released strict design guidelines for applications built for the watch, which suggest that applications be used for no longer than 10 seconds at a time, a report by Bloomberg states.

Apple will review every application submitted to the App Store for the Apple Watch, like it does for iPhone, iPad and Mac apps, to ensure that only those that conform to its policies are let through to customers.



Hotel California

At an event in Cupertino and Berlin on 9 March, Apple is expected to show off a range of apps from high-profile developers.

Companies including BMW, United Airlines, Facebook and others have spent weeks within a secretive Apple Watch development facility at the heart of Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, the report states.

Security is tight. Internet access is blocked within the testing rooms, as are personal devices.

Apps written outside the secretive testing lab can only be brought in on storage devices that once they enter the lab, can never leave.

Apple declined to comment.

Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, the list goes on

Apple’s secrecy and security around new products is legendary. But the Watch’s success will rest on convincing consumers that a smartwatch is more than an expensive, glorified second screen accessory for a smartphone. To do that Apple is turning to its strong developer community to produce killer apps.

Key Apple Watch apps that are currently in development include Facebook’s Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, car control apps from BMW and others, productivity apps from Evernote and Todoist and many others, while leisure companies including the Starwood hotel chain, are developing apps to unlock hotel room doors from the wrist.

Rival smartwatches that have been on the market for the last two years have thousands of apps currently available for them. The Pebble smartwatch has over 6,500 apps, while Google’s Android Wear has over 2,000 apps according to the app aggregator Wear Store.

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