“Apple is getting set to move to its next stage of growth with a wearable health-monitoring device, hoping to establish a solid foothold in the promising healthcare sector,” Yuichiro Kanematsu reports for Nikkei. “The U.S. firm said Thursday at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference that it will this autumn bring to market an upgraded mobile operating system for smartphones and tablet devices.”
“The new watch-like wearable gear will run on this OS, which will be equipped with a centralized function to manage users’ biometric information via smartphones. It is expected to hit the market in October,” Kanematsu reports. “Though the details of services have yet to be released, specs for the new product are being finalized, according to industry sources. It will likely use a curved organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touchscreen and collect health-related data, such as calorie consumption, sleep activity, blood glucose and blood oxygen levels. It will also allow users to read messages sent by smartphones.”
“Apple appears confident of the new product. According to a parts manufacturer, it plans monthly commercial output of about 3-5 million units, which exceeds the total global sales of watch-like devices last year,” Kanematsu reports. “This confidence is backed by its partnerships with high-profile hospitals — it has teamed up with the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic, U.S. health institutes based in Minnesota and Ohio, respectively, to develop specific ways of analyzing the collected data and applying it to actual health management. Apple is also in partnership with Nike. According to sources familiar with the matter, the two companies have likely agreed to integrate their services in the future. The sports equipment maker is expected to eventually pull out of the device business to concentrate on services.”
“Apple is well-positioned to come up with an easy-to-use product due to its design-focused development capabilities. In addition, the new OS is designed to manage health-related data collected through platforms developed by other companies,” Kanematsu reports. “Apple expects linking to health-monitoring apps offered by others to gain access to massive amounts of data, such as heart rates, blood pressure, sleep cycles and calorie consumption. Though handling personal data requires due consideration, the analysis of big data can allow it to collaborate with a range of businesses in the fields of insurance, medicine, preventive services and advertising.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Confidence.
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Analyst: Apple’s iWatch has round face; Apple confidently increasing their iWatch orders – May 28, 2014
Apple on medical tech hiring spree, a possible hint of iWatch plans – May 5, 2014
Eventually someone will be correct with this rumor.
Am I the only one not interested in this? I can see Apple working on a standard for other makers, but that’s about it.
Everybody’s mileage will vary on every mobile device. As a stockholder I don’t mind Apple accommodating with reasonable multiple choices and different devices without diluting the brand too much. It’s a good thing.
I for one am looking forward to this product as Agent Orange has taken it’s toll on me.
Well, sir. You have yourself a nice buying season. I have to say that it DOES entice me.
iWatch…really? No I too do not care about an iWatch.
Now an iCinema Display with Thunderbolt2 and USB3 Ports, that is something I’d like to talk about…
Tim “The Steward” Cook has to do something to drum up excitement, because he is otherwise running the company into the ground. It will be great to see him fired, hopefully Ive goes with him.
How exactly is Tim Cook running Apple into the ground? He has done more for shareholders. Than Steve Jobs ever would have. Product wise this WWDC set the foundation for the decade of product innovation. Just because Apple doesn’t beta test R&D projects publicly doesn’t mean they aren’t hard at work. Steve instilled an incredible culture of innovation at Apple and that will live on for many years to come if not for decades.
Joe — Your posts look even more silly than they did before. If you don’t understand the implications of the presentation, you really have NO clue what you’re looking at.
Joe is a joke!
Tosser
Ignorant jackass.
Seeing as how Jony Ive has been responsible for the design and function of just about every significant Apple product since the first iMac, your statement shows just how staggeringly clueless you are.
Joe, just blow…
If the device is inexpensive and part of the Continuity chain, I can see them issued to hospital patients and replacing banks of monitors and recording devices, with direct reporting of problematic readings to medical staff. Those guys at Apple have been watching a LOT of Star Trek.
This is an Apple product. Do you really think one of their products can ever be inexpensive at launch?
We always pay a price for new Apple products. They capture the first adopters at the beginning and then reduce the price down. Examples include the retina Macbook Pro & MacBook Airs, They went very high with the original iPhone but quickly lowered it to compete better.
The only product that I think is really cheap is the AppleTV and that applied to the 2nd gen and after.
Clearly that is the new market that they wish initially to be the core of the new platform. Get health professionals using and issuing them to patients as its own marketing campaign for ever wider use amongst the public at large. Wider capabilities and uses will be added over time as it becomes a more universal device. Classic Apple really.
iWatch has been pat of iMac and Cinema displays for years. It is that camera in the monitor bezel that the NSA uses to watch you as you work.
Why does everyone think/assume this device will sport a touchscreen? Has anyone every tried using a touchscreen watch whilst running (or any activity that causes you to sweat)? They simply don’t work. Even newer treadmills with touch screens are horrible. Nike sorted this – they have a single press button. Even the new Polar loops are devoid of touch input.
A good friend of mine, speaking from a physician’s point of view, recently told me, “The insurance industry never wants you to spend more than seven minutes with a patient.”
Given that, like retirement planning, the more involvement we have, the better the outcome.
I welcome biometrics. You can’t manage if you don’t measure.
Similar to a playbook wristband is what I’ve always predicted
wearable health-monitoring device….
Someone cares– tha’s good.
I don’t particularly, but using oled means LESS electrical drain, and THAT means maybe Facetime on the iWatch.
Now, that Dick Tracy thing means ” Holy SHIT ! ” ” WOW ” ” GREAT ! “. ” SOLD ” .
Otherwise, Naaa.
Since Nike announced that their sports wristband was being discontinued, but still supported, I’m increasingly of the opinion that Apple have taken it over and significantly improved on it, giving it watch and iDevice communication functions, along with Health connection on said devices.
A neat, clean-looking wristband with display would be much, much better than the big, clunky wristwatch-based devices that everyone else has been churning out.
Not sure yey that display will be OLED, it could be also LED flexible display. Apple has always been septic about OLED display, they always criticize saturated colors and reliability. And i’m not sure they did a lot of measurements and evaluation of flexible display, so they will rely only on experience of 1provider (LG display)? I’m curious to see reactions of Apple fans after first early failure of OLED iwatch in extreme conditions or just normal usage.