Designers and developers all over the world are scrambling to get their apps ready in time for the April 24 release of the Apple Watch. A short post on Apple's developer site asks developers to prepare and submit WatchKit apps for review.

An accompanying guide provides instructions for designing and developing Apple Watch apps. It asks for up to five screenshots of the apps and stipulates that the app icon must be very similar to that of the iPhone app. With just more than three weeks until the Apple Watch goes on sale, developers are being asked to get their submissions in as soon as possible.

Though Apple is encouraging everyone to submit their app designs for the world's most anticipated smartwatch now, a select 100 or so developers received early invites, and the likes of Twitter and Instagram are already available in the Apple Watch App store. 

The New York Times (NYT), one of the early invitees, has released details of its specially designed Apple Watch app that will feature one-sentence stories.

The New York Times developers have been working on their app since February and announced that Apple Watch users will be able to read one-sentence NYT articles on the smartwatch. The app sounds interesting — but aren't one-sentence stories called headlines? It's possible that they'll be slightly different — but the sentences shown in the screenshots from the NYT below sure do look a lot like headlines.

Alongside the one-word sentences, the app will feature photographs and short bulleted summaries. Readers can use Handoff to continue reading any story on an iPhone or iPad, or tap "Save for Later" to build a personal reading list. The Times' breaking news alerts will also pop up on the Apple Watch.

It looks like the venerable newspaper is taking a leaf out of new media startup Circa's copybook. Released in 2012, Circa is a news app developed specifically for smartphones, which breaks stories down into bite-size nuggets, each one designed to fit easily on a phone's screen. No doubt it will also have an Apple Watch version in time.

The New York Times Apple Watch App will be available free to download starting April 24.

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