What's missing from Apple Watch? Some pretty important apps
Where is the Facebook app for the Apple Watch?
Concern is growing that Apple has yet to persuade the social networking site along with other major players like Google and Snapchat to design apps specifically for the watch.
"If you get your Apple Watch and you go 'I want to check Facebook on here or I want to check Snapchat' as opposed to doing it on your phone, you can't do that right now," CNET senior editor Dan Ackerman told CBS News.
"These are big companies that everyone thought would have apps natively for the watch and they don't have it," he said. "They are taking a wait and see attitude. A lot of times, they say you might as well take your phone out because we can give you more information than we can give you on that tiny watch screen."
According to the analytics firm App Annie, only five of the 20 most popular free iPhone apps in the United States have versions for the Apple Watch. And the number of apps for the watch, which now stands at about 7,400, is growing at a slower rate than the surge of apps that were produced for iPhones and iPads in their early days. While the number of apps for the watch jumped 142 percent in the first three months, that compared to 437 percent for the iPhone and 200 percent for the iPad, according to App Annie.
For many app developers, the challenge is designing an app that will make its products look good on such a tiny screen.
"Facebook is trying to figure out how to make something that works on the watch. They don't want to put out a watch app that isn't any good, shows only two lines of a status update and that is it," Ackerman said. "Then, you will be unhappy with the experience and not come back. With a lot of Apple's stuff or anyone's stuff, you have to wait for version two to get everything working the way you want it to."
Still, Ackerman said the absence of big-name apps is not necessarily a sign that all is bad with the Apple Watch. The company has sold an estimated three to five million watches so far. A better picture of watch sales should become clear Tuesday when Apple is set to report its results.
"They probably have sold more watches at this point in the watches' life cycle than they sold iPhones or iPads in those products initial launch life cycles up to that point," Ackerman said.