Apple Inc presented a 60-page report listing all of its health features and relationships with medical institutions on Wednesday, suggesting that such services are critical to the tech giant’s future. The business cited the variety of services it now offers, which range from atrial fibrillation diagnosis and cycle tracking to sleep monitoring and fitness programmes, and pledged to expand on them.
In a statement included with the study, Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, who is in charge of Apple’s health initiatives, stated that the firm will keep developing “science-based technologies.”
The study is a reply to those who have criticised Apple for not investing as much in healthcare as its competitors. Despite dominating the market, the Apple Watch hasn’t always included cutting-edge health functions as rapidly as rival devices. Additionally, other internet behemoths like Google and Amazon.com Inc. have launched ambitious incursions into the medical sector, with varying degrees of success.
According to Apple, it is a leader in health technology and well-positioned to exploit it as a growth engine in the next years. As per Bloomberg, Apple aims to include capabilities for women’s health and body-temperature tracking as part of a new range that will be available this year. Fitness functions are already a key selling point for the Apple Watch. Apple is also developing later-released technologies like those for monitoring blood pressure and glucose levels.
Apple anticipates that a number of other areas, including health technology, will support further sales growth. Along with mixed reality headsets, foldable gadgets, augmented reality glasses, and self-driving electric cars, the business is also developing a mixed reality headgear for use in 2019.
Although the business doesn’t explicitly charge for its health features, the upgrades could boost sales of subsequent gadgets. The business also provides a Fitness+ subscription service, which may potentially include more health-related features.
For Silicon Valley businesses, breaking into the health services market has proven to be difficult. Google closed its dedicated health division last year, despite the fact that it owns businesses in the sector including Verily and Fitbit. Amazon has made progress, among other things, by establishing connections with local healthcare professionals and an online pharmaceutical business. In contrast, Samsung Electronics Co. provides a health app with certain functions that are comparable to Apple’s.
Apple said in its report that its research studies provide it a competitive advantage when developing new products. For instance, a function that examines an iPhone user’s walking stability was developed using information gathered from over 100,000 users. Additionally, the business has collaborations with a number of medical centres and researchers, including UCLA.
According to the article, the iPhone and Apple Watch now enable capabilities in 17 different fitness and health categories. More than 150 different categories of health-related data may be stored in the Health app.
Tens of thousands of third-party applications are also able to access the Health app, according to the research. This autumn, the firm will upgrade its gadgets with additional fitness capabilities, prescription tracking, and reminders.
