A year after the official launch of the Apple Watch, the company’s healthcare-related initiatives have multiplied. What’s more, Apple’s labs dedicated to sports and health are seeing the same “traffic” as previously reported by ABC News.
I was recently able to visit one of Apple’s labs dedicated to sports and health. For 12 hours a day, six days a week, Apple brings in Apple employees of every shape, condition and ethnicity to do various exercises and monitor them with the most sophisticated medical systems available. Apple has seven full-time nurses in the facility I visited, using medical monitoring equipment that can determine all types of heath related data points. The lab even has special chambers that can simulate temperate and weather conditions, in which various exercises or activities can be monitored.
As it turns out, the real reason for developing the Apple Watch wasn’t just fashion and design: Steve Jobs’ personal health journey had a great impact on him and Apple’s top management, too, reports Time.
After Jobs developed pancreatic cancer in 2004, he spent a great deal of time with doctors and discovered how “disjointed” the healthcare system can be, the report says, so Jobs focused on the task of bringing digital order to various aspects of the healthcare system, especially to the connection between patients, their data, and healthcare providers.
If you look back at recent announcements, you can see that Apple has done a tremendous job in helping people record data and get it securely to their healthcare providers. Turns out, Apple also has projects related to healthcare records, management, and interaction between the doctor and patient.
Although the Watch reached the market after Jobs’ death, it’s not clear whether he had knowledge of it, but it seems he was aware that health monitoring would need improvement in the form of a mobile device. You can read the Time report in full by following this link.
