Are Developers Losing Interest in the Apple Watch?
It looks like developers are losing interest in developing for the Apple Watch, at least according to the VP of one mobile database. Though tvOS seems to be doing well, Apple’s watchOS, on the other hand, is becoming less of a priority for the company’s developer community.
The Apple TV platform is doing well, but the Apple Watch is a different story.
The news comes in an article from Business Insider UK, in which Tim Anglade, vice president of mobile database Realm, shares his unique insight into the kind of applications developers are currently creating. He explained, in the article, that developers seem to be losing interest in the Apple Watch as a platform: less and less watchOS apps are coming through each week.
Compared with iOS and tvOS, watchOS is definitely seeing less developer interest. Anglade explained, “on a weekly basis we’re seeing very few Watch apps, compared to iOS apps. For every 1,000 new iOS apps being built, there are 10 tvOS apps and maybe 1 Watch app.” He added that “tvOS is a brand new platform so there’s a gold rush for it.” Indeed, the Apple Watch saw a huge spike in watchOS releases last year, when the smartwatch was released.
Now, however, it seems that the limitations of the first-generation Apple Watch are putting developers off. Despite bringing native apps to the platform with watchOS 2, the processing power of the Apple Watch is still a problem for developers and users alike.
Though a second-generation Apple Watch could push developers back towards the platform, Anglade notes that for the time being, developers are instead far more interested in iOS, OS X, and tvOS. It could be we hear more about a potential Apple Watch 2 release in June, at WWDC 2016, or we may need to wait until September (when the next-generation iPhone is expected to launch). Of course, we’ll keep you posted with further information as we receive it.