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Apple Watch: Developers And Mobile Entrepreneurs At Work

This article is more than 9 years old.

Some people feel comforted by getting up every morning and doing the same thing every day—going through the same motions month after month, year after year, with only slight deviations. That’s not how most entrepreneurs operate, least of all those in the ever-changing world of tech.

That in mind, you can imagine how excited iOS developers are to finally have the new Apple Watch to play with. On Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the company would be rolling out its WatchKit tools to allow developers and mobile entrepreneurs to start creating new apps for the latest device.

But what kind of applications will maverick entrepreneurs and coders come up with? The small screen of the wrist-worn device means a whole new interface is going to have to be developed and that’s a task not just for developers to adapt to but also for consumers to warm up to. There will be some duds and false starts but, in the end, they’ll figure it out.

There are possibilities in the healthcare and medical sectors. Forbes contributor Dr. Robert Pearl sounded off on what he sees for the future of the Apple Watch, saying that the device could be used to monitor data points like steps walked, distance traveled, blood pressure, and blood glucose levels—with the help of other wireless devices, that is. Pearl says that medical applications would need to help doctors do their jobs, first and foremost, in order to be successful.

Simplebot co-founder, Francisco Inchauste, said that he’s contemplating developing an Apple Watch program to go along with the company’s app Rise. Says He: "Sleep is obviously a key part of health and people using Rise could benefit from this. It could mean sending the data in Rise to help track sleep, or triggering things when they wake up."

With such a tiny screen, notifications are no-brainers for developers looking to adapt to the new screen. Companies working on device security like Norton and McAffee – as well as banks and financial institutions, home security companies and private security firms – would do well to create apps that alert people to breaches and important updates, not to mentioning keeping teams of personnel on the same page. Note-taking apps, like Evernote, Papyrus and OneNote are likely working on solutions to let users scribble down ideas on the fly, as are time management developers focused on calendars and appointments.

Here at Forbes we assembled a number of possible applications for the Apple Watch. Check them out here.

Some of the apps already expected to emerge when the Apple Watch hits the streets are offerings from the usual suspects of social media and large consumer-focused companies. Here’s a taste of what’s to come:

Facebook will have a program allowing users to scroll through their neverending newsfeeds; Twitter will be offering its members the ability to tweet, retweet and dismiss messages; BMW has an app in store that will help drivers find their cars and determine how much energy their electric batteries have; American Airlines makes it possible for travelers to check into their flights through the watch device, plus it eases baggage collection (somehow).