There have been countless rumors that the Apple iWatch is going to be fitness focused. It may very well be one of the ways the company differentiates its smartwatch from the rest. Though if its recent hiring spree is judged, Apple’s health ambitions might go beyond its rumored smartwatch. It seems like Apple may be developing a centralized platform for these devices that would be similar to the iOS App Store.
iOS 8 will probably give us an idea of how Apple wants to continue in this particular field. Rumor has it that the next major iOS update is going to be focused on mobile health, it may even bring a Healthbook application that would allow users to keep track of a variety of fitness and health indicators. The data will presumably be collected by Apple’s wearable devices.
Over the past few months Apple has hired a lot of people who have worked in the mobile health space before. A report claims that many of these new employees don’t even know what they will be ultimately working on, which some see as an indicator of Apple’s larger health-focused plans. Masimo CEO Joe Kiani says that Apple is “just buying people” with outrageous compensation packages, people who have access to “deep wells of trade secrets and information.”
Apple obviously has offered no hints of what it may offer in the future. The CEO has only said that Apple intends to enter into new product categories. While many believe he is pointing towards the iWatch, what’s really intriguing is how Apple plans to expand its presence in mobile health monitoring after the smartwatch is out.
Filed in . Read more about Apple Watch and iOS 8.