There may not be a confirmed date for the launch of the much anticipated Apple Watch, but it has been reported that Apple is working with third-party developers, even asking them to travel to its Cupertino, California offices urgently, to work with engineers on WatchKit-based apps.

According to 9to5Mac, Apple is holding workshops for more than 100 developers from a range of genres including sports and productivity, and has also been in talks with banks to work on apps that can use Apple Pay.

The banks are not just American but also German, indicating a desire to expand the payment service to other parts of the world.

9to5Mac reports say that there is a “sense of secrecy” when it comes to meetings with developers: they are not told each other’s names, and instead are given unique number identifiers.

Feedback from developers include the fact that ‘force touch’ takes some getting used to, while another has said that the OS is more sophisticated than its Android counterpart although there is as yet no functionality to send emails from the watch.

In November, Apple released the WatchKit SDK as part of its iOS 8.2 beta for developers looking to build apps that work with the Apple Watch.

As well as apps, developers can use WatchKit to create actionable notifications and Glances, for a quick view of timely information, such as sport scores or recipe steps.

The WatchKit developers’ site provides programming guides, human interface information and templates.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in October that the WatchKit means “many other developers can join this party” with the rollout in November taking place “in time for our developers to really do some fantastic work before we begin shipping Apple Watch”.