Warning: #AppleWatch in April likely to arrive in U.S. first

Anticipation is building ahead of April’s Apple Watch release, and those news nuggets have begun to flow. Here’s what you need to know this week:

Out and proud

You can’t introduce a device like Apple Watch without beta testing and that’s why Apple employees are using their smartwatches in public. And that’s why the public is (some claim) taking snaps of staff wearing the things to share -- such as this purported image of an Apple Watch in Subway…

First Apple Watch spotted in public..at a Subway :p pic.twitter.com/0FSpHIN1OV

— philipn (@philipn) December 1, 2014

Or this image claiming to show the device at a Californian café.

Apple Watch spotted at Cafe Milano in Berkeley and in looks great in real life. pic.twitter.com/EB2DNVZeP7

— Anthony Barrs (@ajbarrs) November 13, 2014

There will me much more sightings excitement ahead. Have you seen one in the wild? Let us know below.

Developer connection

If you intend to build Apple Watch apps, then follow the #AppleWatch Twitter feed – it looks like some developers are using it to swap notes, concepts and ideas as they work toward delivering the perfect quick Glance app for the device. You’ll also find interesting information for non-developers, such as the below image of Tesla’s app for the device, which shows you an awful lot of data in a single glance. The big news today is that Apple has apparently approached some big developers to persuade them to ship their apps earlier than product release, presumably to drive excitement a little higher (and to give beta testers something to test).

Third-Party Tesla App Provides Look at #AppleWatch Development http://t.co/Mj5exsvgJL #WearableTech #DigitalHealth pic.twitter.com/mJKaJetTDF

— Paul Sonnier (@Paul_Sonnier) February 1, 2015

Safe houses

Apple becomes a jewelry store with Apple Watch and will put safes inside its retail stores to place units overnight. Apple being Apple, these will be “special” safes equipped with power supplies so staff can recharge the sample products overnight. Apple needs to do this – these things are pretty small and the top of the range Apple Watch Edition in 18-carat gold is expected to cost thousands of dollars. (Though if you do buy one of those, don’t be too disappointed if the processor is out of date within two years.)

U.S. first

If you are based outside the U.S., be prepared for a staggered international release schedule. Apple CEO Tim Cook last week promised Apple Watch would ship in April, but this doesn’t necessarily mean the device will ship internationally at that time.