 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, anyone who is interested could analyze the data, and possibly bring a different perspective to trends.
Data can be anonymized but with pertinent profile details such as age and sex (if available), weight and location kept in tact, to provide valuable demographic and regional information.
A few use cases for wearable health tech include:
Monitoring weight gain as a populace, and what fitness activity we’re taking to fight obesity. (Note: the weight information would be manually entered by each user into their profile for each activity session.)
Studying heartbeat rates, general daily activity variation and duration.
Studying ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) symptoms by using a variety of environmental sensors and body metrics monitors.
The fact is, there are smartphone cases and plugin devices that can collect much of the same info as health and fitness trackers and monitors, sometimes more data. However, wearable tech is more convenient than a smartphone to carry around for some activities such as swimming or surfing.
In fact, some wearable tech such as the Shine pebble-shaped device from MisfitWearables.com is waterproof (to 50 meters/ 164 feet). Battery life for the Shine is 4-6 months, depending on usage, and it’s easy to wear in different ways with accessories such as a clasp, watch (sport and leather) bands, and as a necklace. A similar device to Shine, from Fitbug.com is the Orb, which can also be worn in a variety of ways, including as a necklace.
Try that with a smartphone, which is typically more expensive than most wearable health tech. The Shine is about US$120, the Orb US$50. Which would you be more willing to lose: smartphone or wearable tech?
To help the proliferation of wearable tech for health use, some have suggested that doctors actually prescribe the use of such tech. It could be as simple as the type that gets affixed temporarily in a sticky bandage-like form factor, or something more durable and long-term. Prescription of wearable tech might just be a doctor’s dream if it gets patients to be 