The following is via OnlySimchas.com:

On Monday, fans of Apple products got a real treat. Apple launched their long awaited Apple Watch, a smart watch that may up-end the market for wearable technology.

For the Jews who love Apple products, RustyBrick, the premier company for Jewish apps, is preparing an app of its own to help make religious life a little easier.

Over the years, RustyBrick has come out with a slew of apps for smart phones and tablets, such as an e-Hagaddah for Passover and even a prayer app for the now defunct Google Glass.

But the company is determined to keep up with the times, and make its apps compatible with the most cutting edge technology. In the smart watch, it sees an opportunity to help give people quick, easy access to religious information.

“A smart phone is sitting in your back pocket, it’s not always out and ready,” said Barry Schwartz, RustyBrick’s CEO. Unlike a phone, he said, a watch “is much more discrete, much more available.”

The application will need to accommodate quick glances and easy access to small amounts of information.

“When you have the apple watch on you’re going to use your phone a lot less,” he said.

Rustybrick’s planned Apple Watch app tells users when it’s time to pray, helps them find local kosher restaurants, helps them find the proper bracha to say, lets them know when sunset is, and when shabbat and holidays start and end.

Schwartz is waiting to see whether the Apple Watch will essentially be a computer that is permissible for use on Shabbat. “We’ll have to see what the rabbis say,” he said.

The watch will give users little movements on their wrists, a small touch screen, and a “digital crown” for scrolling as well as a speaker and microphone.

The Apple Watch is the first new product category that Apple has launched since the passing of former CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs. Analysts believe it will not be as easy to redefine the market with this product as it was with the iPod did for music players, the iPhone for smart watches, and the iPad for tablets.

It will be available in the US and a few other countries starting April 24. It is not yet clear when it will be available in Israel.

CEO Tim Cook recently made a surprise visit to Israel to launch the company’s development center in Herzliya.

The center currently employs 750 people and is looking to hire for another 50 positions. It is the company’s largest Research and Development facility outside the US. It is mostly focused on chip design.

“We have an enormous admiration for Israel, not just as an important ally for the US, but as a place to do business,” Cook said during the visit.

(Source: OnlySimchas.com)