Exactly. Apple is able to get people to think they are lucky to be able to give them money!
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Apple Offers Developers a Chance to Buy Apple Watch Sport With Guaranteed April 28 Delivery Date
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Exactly. Apple is able to get people to think they are lucky to be able to give them money!
kinda blows my mind that one would work on a Watch app and not manage to put their hands on one before Mid May. It took hours for some models (like the blue/silver one we're talking on this thread) to slip to a mid may shipping date. if you're not willing to wake up in the middle of the night to place an order for the product you're working on... I don't know...
Received, applied, cancelled and re-applied .... Why not. If I'm lucky I cancel my regular order and get the watch earlier. Also wanted black band but blue is fine, too. Might change to red anyway.
Nice move Apple.
Now my only question: how can I change the address linked to my dev account ? The one for the linked Apple ID is updated. Any idea ? Don't want the to ship to a wrong address.
Nice move Apple.
Now my only question: how can I change the address linked to my dev account ? The one for the linked Apple ID is updated. Any idea ? Don't want the to ship to a wrong address.
I'm curious as to what your source is for your # of developers? Are these inclusive of iOS, OS X and Safari?
I seriously doubt that number because it is likely 95% of free developer accounts that doesn't matter much and not likely get invited by Apple to do anything.
As for my own number, my source is based here: https://www.apple.com/about/job-creation/
This is for US only. Are you saying there are 9.6 million paid developers outside of US?
I'd put the overall numbers somewhere double of US, less than 800K total overall for all iOS and OS X paid developers.
Apple is not likely to include free accounts in the lottery.
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You're trolling, right?
Comments based on what I read:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/wwdc-2014-by-the-numbers/
"9 million registered Apple developers, a 47 percent increase from 2013"
Figured a few more since that time.
Again, just a guess of mid day time frame. Active developers are likely near email at that time, which hits them first. Might be one way to get a good initial sample of sent/registered percentage.
The interesting question is the extent of the lottery part. If they, for example had 10,000 watches to offer, how many registered devs do they want for the initial call list. Do they want it to be close (few disappointments), or slightly over booked like airlines, or true slim chance lottery. They are going to sell them all, so I'm not sure I see the advantage of the slim chance lottery for them.
Just my 2c.
Ahhhh,
now we know which is the »officially« ugliest variation (of the, ahem, not so pretty watch) we should have ordered to receive it this Friday. Whatever. After having a try-on appointment in the store I’m losing interest by the minute. I really, really tried to like it. Really. I have use cases for it. At least I think I have. But whether I can get over this unisex non-committal soap bar design – I doubt it more and more. With the iPhones I didn’t care too much about the design. I could always put them in a case. But this thing? I’m used to Heuers, Panerais or IWCs on my wrist. This? No, Jony, Mr. alleged watch enthusiast, THIS IS NOT IT. I’ll still give it a try. But I’m not excited any more when or whether it arrives. And that’s a very, very bad sign. Very bad. A first with Apple products, actually.
now we know which is the »officially« ugliest variation (of the, ahem, not so pretty watch) we should have ordered to receive it this Friday. Whatever. After having a try-on appointment in the store I’m losing interest by the minute. I really, really tried to like it. Really. I have use cases for it. At least I think I have. But whether I can get over this unisex non-committal soap bar design – I doubt it more and more. With the iPhones I didn’t care too much about the design. I could always put them in a case. But this thing? I’m used to Heuers, Panerais or IWCs on my wrist. This? No, Jony, Mr. alleged watch enthusiast, THIS IS NOT IT. I’ll still give it a try. But I’m not excited any more when or whether it arrives. And that’s a very, very bad sign. Very bad. A first with Apple products, actually.
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Not everyone gets an email
To clarify: It's not a random selection of those devs who register. The email doesn't go out to everyone in the program.
Apple (supposedly) randomly selected developers who received the email. If you receive an email, you are guaranteed to be able to purchase the specific watch model (42mm silver sport w/ blue band) for delivery by 4/28.
If you don't receive the email, you weren't selected.
I confirmed this with Apple Developer Program Support. They didn't know if, in the event that some developers don't purchase the watch, Apple would offer the remaining quantity to other developers who did not previously receive an invitation.
To clarify: It's not a random selection of those devs who register. The email doesn't go out to everyone in the program.
Apple (supposedly) randomly selected developers who received the email. If you receive an email, you are guaranteed to be able to purchase the specific watch model (42mm silver sport w/ blue band) for delivery by 4/28.
If you don't receive the email, you weren't selected.
I confirmed this with Apple Developer Program Support. They didn't know if, in the event that some developers don't purchase the watch, Apple would offer the remaining quantity to other developers who did not previously receive an invitation.
I've been given the offer (I'm in the UK and a very active dev) but I'm not really sure what I'll do if I get accepted. My budget for April been spent on my 24th pre-order but could I get in trouble if took it and then flipped it?
My consumer Apple ID is different to my Dev ID.
My consumer Apple ID is different to my Dev ID.
It does mostly sound that way. But I'm not 100% sure...
"You have the chance to purchase one (1) Apple Watch Sport with 42mm Silver Aluminum Case and Blue Sport Band thats guaranteed to ship by April 28, 2015."
Emphasis mine. They could have said "a chance" which could imply that the die has not yet been cast. But they said "the chance" which kinda implies that the decision has already been made. But perhaps Apple didn't parse it this way and by "chance" they meant only a chance.
They go on to say, "This opportunity is offered by random selection and quantities are limited. Register now though April 23 at 10 a.m. PDT. Well let you know your status on April 23."
So I won't count on anything unless and until I get a confirmation some time on April 23. (No doubt I'd have to complete an actual order at that time.)
Just a guess, but I'm wondering if Apple selected dev accounts that were used to register for a WWDC ticket? I registered for WWDC and received the watch offer. My co-worker did not. Some are reporting that they have multiple dev accounts, and only one received the offer. Were those dev accounts used to apply to WWDC?...
I seriously doubt you'd get in trouble. In order to punish anyone, Apple would have to be nearly certain that you had done something they don't like... and how would they know that? Even if they were willing to violate their user's privacy in order to know that a certain watch was paired to an iPhone that wasn't know to be associate with a particular developer... what does that mean? Sure, they could make educated guesses, but hardly any level of false positives would be worth the trouble.
But I'll argue that if you don't plan on using it at least partially for development, then don't take the offer. Why? It will only hurt your fellow developers -- presumably a Watch you don't take will go to another dev -- which, in turn, will hurt Watch owners -- there will be one less fine-tuned Watch app out there.
Even if you have no empathy for your fellow developers or users, it's also good for the platform, which is good for you personally. IMO, the Apple Watch doesn't have a strong direct purpose. Practically no one needs one. It's value is all in the subtleties: does it make things easier, better, smoother for the user? If the answer is yes, it will be successful. If the answer is no then it will fail -- and you, as a developer, will have one fewer market for your apps. Now, there's no straight "yes" or "no" in a wide market like this, but one more Watch available to a dev is one more fine-tuned app, which is a one more notch in the positive direction.
Turns out my sarcastic WWDC response came to be true, minus the discount...
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/21024487/
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/21024487/
apple's statement guarantees shipment by the 28th; your article says delivery is guaranteed by the 28th. Clarification?
I've been developing ios apps for about 4 years and even submitted a watch app and I didn't get this email. Must be very random :/.
wow, random selection for the opportunity to enter a lottery to win the chance to buy a watch. Apple likes lotteries this month.
If they keep this up it won't be the DoJ investigating them next time, it'll be the gaming board
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Looking at the story again, which seems to have been updated since I first read it to show the mail you get after applying, it seems pretty clear that you aren't guaranteed to be able to purchase, it's just a registration for a lottery. Quoting from that mail shown on the front page of the story.
"You've been entered in the random selection process for the chance to purchase one Apple Watch Sport by placing an expedited order".
Possible that Apple is just hedging here, they believe supply set aside for this program will cover the number of invited devs who actually apply, and are protecting themselves in the event more people take up the original offer, but I wouldn't go cancelling other orders until the confirmation mail comes through after 23rd April or you could end up with no watch twice!
If they keep this up it won't be the DoJ investigating them next time, it'll be the gaming board
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Looking at the story again, which seems to have been updated since I first read it to show the mail you get after applying, it seems pretty clear that you aren't guaranteed to be able to purchase, it's just a registration for a lottery. Quoting from that mail shown on the front page of the story.
"You've been entered in the random selection process for the chance to purchase one Apple Watch Sport by placing an expedited order".
Possible that Apple is just hedging here, they believe supply set aside for this program will cover the number of invited devs who actually apply, and are protecting themselves in the event more people take up the original offer, but I wouldn't go cancelling other orders until the confirmation mail comes through after 23rd April or you could end up with no watch twice!