“At its annual WWDC developers conference in San Francisco Monday, Apple announced that it is creating a new version of watchOS, the operating system that underlies Apple Watch,” Troy Wolverton reports for The Mercury News. “With the new version, which programmers can start testing now, they will be able to create apps that run on the device itself rather than being beamed to it from an iPhone.”
“For all the talk at the show about Apple’s new music service and the updates to OS X and iOS, the software undergirding Mac computers and iPhones, respectively, the watchOS announcement potentially has the most long-term significance,” Wolverton writes. “Opening up the Watch to outside developers could not only make the device a mainstream hit, but help establish smartwatches as a significant new market like smartphones and tablets before them.”
“I’m eager to see what developers come up with. The ability to tap into the accelerometer and heart-rate sensor could well turn the device into a must-have gadget for athletes or those aspiring to improve how they play particular games,” Wolverton writes. “The device could potentially be used to help measure swings of a golf club or a baseball bat. Meanwhile, the vibrating motor could be incorporated into a bunch of different apps, including one that might alert users that their door is unlocked when they leave the house.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: There was a lot of important news coming out of the WWDC keynote, so it’s difficult to say which was the most important, but watchOS 2 certainly is right up there. Apple Watch owners already get it, but this new OS will be the catalyst to clueing in the rest of the world to the fact that they’re going to be wearing computers on their wrists sooner than later, too.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jeff.L” for the heads up.]