Category: Technology News

As the Apple Watch prepares to be shipped, other wearables brands such as Nike and Jawbone are being taken down.

Apple Stores are now starting to prepare for the addition of the brand’s own smartwatches and, as they do, they are taking wearables from the competition – such as Jawbone and Nike – down from their shelves.

According to reports, health oriented wristbands are among the wearables no longer available at the Apple Store.

The Apple Stores in certain major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Palo Alto are reported to have taken down smartwatches and fitness bands from other brands as they prep for the addition of the Apple Watch. The Spring Forward Event, last week, revealed that advance orders of the device will be available as of April 10, and the wearables will actually be available for immediate purchase starting on April 24.

These smartwatches will be available at a range of prices, starting as “low” as $349, for the entry-level device.

The Apple Watch was first unveiled at an event back in September 2014. The Sport version of this wearable technology starts at $349, but there is an Edition version that is plated in any of three types of gold and that will be available with a massive $10,000 price tag.

While it may make sense that other devices that present direct competition to this wearable technology have been taken down in favor of exclusively showcasing the Apple Watch, many are baffled by the decision to remove the Nike+ FuelBand and the Jawbone device. These are fitness trackers and don’t provide nearly the range of different features that will be offered by the smartwatch.

Moreover, Nike announced, last year, that it was going to be stepping out of its FuelBand focus and that it would be placing a greater level of attention on its software development. It should also be pointed out that Ben Shaffer, the design director from Nike+ FuelBand, was hired by Apple in 2013, as was the developer of that device, Jay Blahnik.

Whatever the reason, it does appear that the market for smartwatches is about to become much more fierce than it has been, until now.

The latest update of the app market for Android users lets users approach the iTunes experience.

Google Play has recently released a new update that many believe will help it to close the gap between itself and iTunes, especially since Apple has been recovering from a few blunders in their own App Store over the past few months.

Developers were paid a total of $7 billion over the span of 2014 in order to improve the Android marketplace.

This, according to a report from the Financial Times. Though that amount is notably less than the reported $25 billion that Apple paid its developers, it is still a considerable figure. This is particularly important as the results that Apple has been seeing have remained the same from June through the close of last year. Still, it paid $10 billion more than it usually would have, during that time, so it is expected that those developers will be seeing their earnings sliding downward. Conversely, Google Play developers will be watching their earnings increase.

For Android developers, this change in direction for Google Play should be seen as very positive news.

It also means, according to many, that it appears that the gap that has existed between these two largest stores is now closing up. The latest update for the Android store is quite s clear indication of that. For people who use Android 2.3 and up, the Play 5.3.5 version of the app is now available. This represents the majority of users of Android devices. It now offers a range of different functions to its users, which includes the expansion of the various notification options that are available within the settings. It is also now possible to choose whether or not the notifications for an app will be displayed.

The music store at Google has also released an update, which has aligned its appearance much more closely with the Play Store. There is now a home screen search function. That said, this specific update will be available only to those with a version of Android Kit Kat or newer.

Fortunately for those who can’t access it, the majority of the changes are in the design of the experience, so that it more closely resembles that of Google Play. The majority of the actual functionality has not been changed.