to measure blood pressure, hydration, heart rate and more.
Bloomberg.com had said in Feb 2013, as many as 100 product designers were working on this Apple device.
TheWeek.com quotes analyst Katy Huberty saying also in Feb 2013 that Apple’s involvement in the wearables market could be worth $10-15B annually for them alone.
Apple has been filing multiple patents for HUDs (Heads Up Displays) that stream data to the human retina — possibly for a device similar to the Google Glass which might work in tandem with the rumored iWatch.
At present, Apple does have iOS mobile OS ecosystem partners who make wearable accessories that plugin or sync to iOS mobile devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad)
For example, the Nike+ app runs even on the iPod Nano (complete with pedometer), and wirelessly connects to Nike FuelBand smart band (which — which measures calories burned, steps, distance, pace and more. The app can also wirelessly connect to heart-rate monitors.
Apple CEO Tim Cook wears a Nike FuelBand and sits on that company’s board of directors.
Apple is also said to be gearing up for mobile healthcare and fitness in the form of an app, codenamed Healthbook, said to be scheduled for release with the iOS 8 mobile OS in late 2014. Healthbook will supposedly be able to perform fitness tracking (distance walked, calories burned) as well as certain vital signs (blood pressure, heart rate, glucose levels and more), and track medication being taken. This would suggest the possibility of a wearable monitoring device that would sync with the Healthbook app. Whether it will be the rumored iWatch or something produced by a partner company is to be seen.
Two Apple executives (Jeff Williams and Bud Tribble) met with FDA officials in Dec 2013 to discuss health applications.
The company has also been hiring various experts from the sensor, fitness and medical industries. One is is Michael O’Reilly, former EVP and CMO for Masimo — though reports say he is not exclusively working on the iWatch. (Masimo produced a finger-based pulse monitor that connected to the iPhone.)
All these are indicators that Apple is likely working on something related to health and fitness, though until they reveal or confirm actual hardware, much of this is speculation.
What Google Is Up To
Google has put a lot of resources and money into developing and promoting their Google Glass wearable tech. An anonymous Google exec told the NY Times in Feb 2013 that the company hopes that Google Glass will make up 3% of revenue by 2015. (Which is a lot to expect for a product that, in early 2014, is still only available to developers, at a cost of $1500.)
However, Google Glass currently has no evident application in health and fitness and tracking, and the company knows this will be a big market. Given what Apple appears to be up to, Google is not going to step aside and let them have all the fun. In fact, Google wants to be the mobile OS of choice for smart wearable gear. They’re releasing an “Android Wear” SDK (Software Development Kit) later in 2014.
The Benefits of Mass Acceptance of Wearable Health Tech
There are a number of benefits that can be gleaned if wearable health tech is widely accepted:
People in remote areas without access to doctors could be assessed remotely with collected data, assuming they have at least cellular Internet access and a suitable mobile device to send their measured data.
Research doctors can more easily collect and analyze large quantities of data. This allows for analysis of health data that represents a wider population and which can reveal trends that might otherwise go unnoticed. E.g., that a certain region is suffering from weight gain more than others.
While it is possible to collect much of the same information without wearables, it’s a lot more effort. There’s also the issue of whether different HMO policies allow them to share the data or not. When the data belongs to the patients, collectively, that issue potentially goes away.
Open health data will be a boon for doctors and scientists who want to study health-related habits en masse. In fact