“Emerging details about Apple’s forthcoming Healthbook app suggest the tech giant is asserting itself as a platform for digital health, a clearinghouse for data that could potentially prove as useful, revealing and lucrative as the ad profiles that drive the online economy today,” James Temple and Lauren Goode report for Re/code.
“It’s not certain how close to a final product Healthbook is or what it will look like when it hits the market. Early designs for the app appear to allow consumers to closely track health, fitness and activity information, as first reported by 9to5Mac and largely confirmed by Re/code’s own reporting,” Temple and Goode report. “Another question is what part, if any, Apple’s M7 co-processor will play in the company’s foray into the health and fitness market. The M7 chip, existing in the iPhone 5s and newer iPads, allows for the passive gathering of motion and activity data. Health and fitness apps that are utilizing the new chip, such as Fitbit, Moves, RunKeeper and Strava, can get a more accurate reading on activities. The chip is also easier on batteries.”
“The blood sugar card in Healthbook, as shown on 9to5Mac, raises other interesting issues. Currently, glucose monitors require pricking the skin or stabbing into subcutaneous tissue, painful realities that mean people living with diabetes often don’t check levels as frequently as they should — and that few people would consider their use for a general health signal,” Temple and Goode report. “Continuous glucose monitoring would be the ‘killer app’ for the quantified self, enabling the analysis of caloric intake and dangerous eating patterns, the noted computer scientist Larry Smarr recently told Re/code.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Apple’s looming Healthbook app is the start of something huge – March 18, 2014
Healthbook: Apple’s major first step into health and fitness tracking revealed – March 17, 2014
Screenshots of iOS 8: Healthbook, Preview, TextEdit icons leaked – March 13, 2014
Apple mulls iOS Notification Center tweaks, removing Game Center app in iOS 8 and OS X – March 14, 2014
Over 200 people working on Apple’s iWatch peripheral device; no FDA regulation, sources say – February 10, 2014
iWatch + iOS 8: Apple sets out to redefine mobile health, fitness tracking – February 1, 2014
Smart choice on Apple’s part.
Sensors, computing power, communications, tracking all leading to warnings & useful input to users. A winner.
However to droid trolls a dimpled plastic back is far more innovative and useful.
“will asserts itself” Really? It do?