Apple kicked off its anticipated media event in San Francisco today with some interesting updates to the Apple Watch. A few new styles, a bunch of new band options and an update to the Watch OS are among the latest tweaks to the company's first wearable.
Apple announced it will update the wearable software to Watch OS 2 starting September 16 with support for native third-party apps, the oddly named "third-party complications" (based on watch terminology: a complication is any feature on a watch that goes beyond the display of hours and minutes) that bring notifications and other third-party app data on to watch faces, as well as some overall performance improvements.
Apple was joined by makers of an app called Airstrip One on stage to show how native third party apps could be used. They demonstrated the app's ability to link up with external sensors in the case of a pregnant woman's pre-natal exam to show vital signs for both mother and baby on Apple Watch in real time.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said over 10,000 Apple Watch apps are now available for download and that the wearable has a 97 percent customer satisfaction level. Notably absent from the statistics, however, were any sales figures for Apple Watch.
The other big news for Apple Watch was all about style. The company announced a partnership with luxury watchmaker Hermes to introduce a few special edition models with the company's trademark leather bands and special watch faces to match.
For even more bling, Apple introduced new Watch Sport models with gold and rose gold cases, as well as a new collection of colored watch bands for what the company referred to as its fall collection.
The new watch models ship immediately in 24 countries and Watch OS 2 will start rolling out on September 16.
Source: Apple