Apple built a secret lab to develop its Watch apps
Plugging the leaks
In just a few days we'll know all there is to know about the Apple Watch when CEO Tim Cook and his fellow executives take to the stage at the Yerba Buena Centre in San Francisco to talk us through their latest bit of kit.
It's been in the pipeline for quite some time, and Bloomberg has details of a 'secret lab' where app developers from privileged partners - including Facebook and BMW - were allowed to work on software to run on the smartwatch. These apps are likely to be showcased on Monday.
As you would expect from Apple, security around this lab was pretty tight: all forms of communication were banned, and even bringing in a pad of paper was off limits (presumably to stop people sketching out screenshots of the unreleased apps).
Big-name partners
Source code for the apps was brought in using computer hard drives, as internet access was banned, Bloomberg's anonymous sources say. It seems Apple was very keen not to let anyone get a glimpse of what's coming ahead of time.
Way back in September when Apple first showed off the wearable, it demoed a number of apps from the likes of American Airlines, Starwood Hotels, BMW, Citymapper, Pinterest, Nike and Twitter, so we can expect a strong app line-up right out of the gate.
We'll be bringing you all the announcements as they happen on Monday, when all of our remaining questions should be answered.
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.