iWatch concept: Espen Oxholm
The Wall Street Journal has published a new report claiming that Apple’s upcoming entry to the smartwatch market will sport ten or more sensors for collecting health data. The report also claims that the company is working on multiple versions for the wearable device, which is expected to be released later this year.
The iWatch is expected to be a health-focused device and will likely work with Apple’s new Health application, which it debuted earlier this month at its Worldwide Developer Conference. The application and its associated framework, called HealthKit, already have built-in support for certain types of devices without the need for a third-party application.
As 9to5Mac has previously reported, Apple has assembled a team of health, fitness, and fashion experts to work on the iWatch project.
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Beautiful idea.. Let’s see when it hits to the market.. :)
Apple knows what Wearables are good for. Thank god someone got it right. I wonder when people will stop thinking it’s a watch or your average smartwatch. This will make every smartwatch look like completely dumb watches.
Blood glucose reading alone would make me toss my Pebble, which I haven’t gone a day without since buying it, and never look back.
Yes. Blood glucose reading non invasively with as high accuracy as invasive monitors would change the world alone. Not just for diabetics but for everyone who wants to be healthier or lose weight. Anyone who doesn’t understand that isn’t smart enough to understand it or they are ignorant as to what blood glucose is or what it can tell you.
Yep :)
Maybe it’s just because I’m ignorant on the subject, but I don’t see how they can read anything other than heart rate and general activity (“Nike Fuel Point”-style). Blood pressure readings would require the watch to expand and contract, and everything else would require it to acquire a sample of your blood. I just don’t see how this will work.
Again, I could just be ignorant, but if those methods existed, I feel like our doctors would be using them. If they’ve figured out a way to ascertain that kind of information without using those methods, this will definitely be a serious game-changer.
Technology allows for things that weren’t possible before, become possible. There are numerous ways to read different vitals and health markers, some are more accurate than others. People have been researching how to ascertain these things in new ways, and technology will definitely allow for these things in the future. I don’t know how they could have some of them already but it would be amazing. It’s a matter of accuracy more than anything, they have to be accurate. It talks about FDA approval and that would definitely have to happen for glucose monitoring, as that could be life threatening for diabetics if they are given highly inaccurate information.
http://9to5mac.com/2014/04/19/apple-hires-rising-medical-star-divya-nag-with-fda-approval-product-development-experience/
and many others!
Nike is limited by their resources (e.g. designers, engineering, supply chain partnerships, etc.). Just think of how much more resources and power Apple has to work with compared to Nike and what they could develop compared to Nike.
Hope this has a lot of non-health related functionality as well
Multiwavelength near-infra-red spectroscopy can detect urate and glusose in blood just under the skin. And with some clever matrix algebra (read ‘compute’) can quantify these as well. There’s a California company with patents on this tech. If this is what’s to be implemented, Apple will be miles ahead of anyone, including medical researchers!
Yes, there is also a radio-frequency based technology. To my knowledge all of these are ‘in development’ rather than currently approved and available.
Just because it doesn’t exist now does not mean it won’t be emerging soon and apple have the deep pockets that could move this sort of tech along to the market place.
This sort of tech needs proper FDA and/or european approvals before it’s made available – inaccurate measurements of something like this could have serious implications.
Samsung will now have to pack about 15 sensors into its next Galaxy Gear. No matter how many sensors Apple’s device has, Samsung’s device will have to have more sensors so the Fandroids can claim device superiority. I know the pundits will definitely claim Apple’s wearable device isn’t innovative enough because Steve Jobs is dead. It’s always the same old crap to prove Apple is doomed and over-valued.
/s
hopefully there is a body temperature reader on here. I have only found one ‘smart’ watch with it so far.
It seems unlikely that Apple should release multiple iterations of the same product, as this goes against their philosophy of baffling the customer with confusing variations of the same product; I forsee two versions at most–but even this seems like a stretch.
Were Apple to take this approach, many would simply wait for the most successful of the watches rise to the top and purchase next year`s `better`version. I`m all over the iWatch: it sounds like a great health assistant with a ton of potential. But I`d be hesitant to make a purchase if there were too many choices out of the gate.
So, it makes sense for Apple to do what it`s always done which is to introduce a single product that knocks the concept out of the park thus making a purchase the easiest no-brainer in the world.
Perhaps the multiple versions will translate as styles. As the iPhone comes in gold, black, white, the iWatch itself may have such options;and with that the watch “band” may also come in different colors, or tooled leather styles. I’m hoping there are no iPod color schemes, but something more tasteful.
I’m an orphan. I have no parents, iow. No one has any idea, except perhaps Steve Jobs, being adopted, just how exciting this product is for me. I have no family history to go back to. I am blessed to have never had any health issue in my life save appendicitis as a child. I take so many precautions with diet and looking after my heart and brain, simply because I just don’t know. I eat food from a company that sells through Direct Sales only, because they very unique health foods that cover all the nutritional bases, and they have done wonders for my health the last 18 months. This band, packed with sensors, will change my life. It will learn who I am, and alert me to potential issues perhaps YEARS before seeing any symptoms. I would gladly, gladly pay $5K for a band like this. Perhaps lots more if it really proved itself to be effective. That’s just how important it is to me. Of course it will be nothing like that price. I will line up on day 1 to get this, and I will tell the freaking world about it. Steve Jobs died of cancer, that this band, or one to come in the future, may have spotted years earlier and saved his life. I believe that when it comes out, Walter Isaacson will reveal the last chapter that was not published, because I can bet you that Steve spent the last few years of his life on developing the technology to save others from the same fate. I believe we’re all about to be completely blown away. Want to save trillions in healthcare costs? We don’t need ObamaCare, we just need to get smart about using technology to assist us in our life choices. This band will do that. *excited*
I hope one of those stats is cancer caused by electro-magnetic power supplies.
Are ALL the health and fitness and other sensors compatible with implanted cardio pacemakers, defibrillators, etc?