“Apple and IBM have begun introducing Apple Watch support to some of their jointly developed MobileFirst for iOS apps, a step that confirms the growing perception that the new Apple wearable is much more than just a consumer product and also has a part to play in enterprise IT,” Jonny Evans writes for Computerworld.
“Apple Watch support has been introduced across three key solutions: Hospital RN, Field Connect and Incident Aware,” Evans writes. “The Apple Watch apps add what may be life-saving versatility to the core solution[s].”
“It seems apparent that Apple has been building relationships that mean the Apple Watch is much more than just a shiny consumer toy for a small minority of well-heeled iPhone users,” Evans writes. “This future is not now something that’s being talked about in the dusty rooms of futurologist theory, no: this future is already here.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Anything that saves this much time is a product that smart companies would want for their employees.
One wonders if the Apple Phone will some day be covered by health insurance as crutches, hearing aids, etc. are now. I’d be interested to hear what others think.
This is a good idea for market penetration in a demographic that wouldn’t have been able to afford the iPhone, or in a demographic that wouldn’t bother to spend on an iPhone because the cost to them doesn’t justify the benefits of the iPhone. If their health insurance provides it for them, then that’s more people who will be exposed to the iPhone experience, and potentially a customer for life. Apple can easily upgrade the iPhone 5C’s future iterations to the specs of current generation iPhones to be able to offer all the bells and whistles of current phones for the same entry price point of the current 5C that insurance companies will be willing to subsidize easily.
Depends on what information they would get access to and how they would be able to use it. Let’s say they gave you an iPhone/Watch then started monitoring your activity levels and increasing your health insurance co-pay if they didn’t think you were active enough. Progressive Insurance is already doing that with their Snapshot monitoring device for automobiles. It’s opt-in, but it looks like the future.
Big Brother is far more likely to be brought to the dance by a profit motive than political control.