We “know” from rumors that Apple with iOS 8 is planning to introduce a new application called Healthbook said to aggregate health and fitness data pulled from a variety of sources, be it third-party fitness/health apps found in the App Store, dedicated tracking accessories or more.
But that could be just the tip of the iceberg.
According to a mobile health executive who spoke to Reuters, the iPhone maker is looking to create a full-blown health and fitness ecosystem inspired by the App Store…
Christina Farr, reporting for Reuters:
One mobile health executive, who asked not to be named, told Reuters he recently sat down with an Apple executive from the iWatch team.
He said the company has aspirations beyond wearable devices, and is considering a full health and fitness services platform modeled on its apps store.
“There’s no doubt that Apple is sniffing around this area,” health technology expert Ted Driscoll told Reuters.
Another expert in this field, Rock Health executive Malay Gandhi, told the news gathering organization that Apple’s recent hires of biomedical sensor experts strongly suggest “a very specific play in the bio-sensing space.”
One of Apple’s notable hires: former Masimo Corporation chief medical officer Michael O’Reilly, who joined Apple’s wearables team to work on special projects. Current Masimo CEO Joe Kiani tells Reuters that Apple is offering these star executives large salaries.
“They are just buying people,” Kiani said. “I just hope Apple is not doing what we’re doing.”
This make a lot of sense.
Apple is always looking at the big picture: the App Store from the onset was an ecosystem rather than just a mobile application store.
The same goes for the iTunes Store, the iBooks Store and Apple’s other digital initiatives. Taking this into account, it’s a fairly safe bet that Apple’s rumored health/fitness service should not be limited to the Healthbook application.
Having a central repository for all your health/fitness related data (Healthbook) tied to an App Store-like platform for connected medical devices sounds like a winning strategy.
What do you guys think?
Healthbook screenshot mockups via Michael Steeber of 9to5Mac.