Apple has long been rumored to be working on an iWatch, and today a report from Reuters appears to confirm many of these rumors. According to one “mobile health executive” who recently met with Apple, the company “has aspirations beyond wearable devices, and is considering a full health and fitness services platform modeled on its apps store.”
It’s not clear what exactly this means, but it sounds similar to the Healthbook app that has been leaked by 9to5Mac. The Healthbook app is expected to be able to receive data from both the iPhone’s built-in sensors and from third-party health and fitness trackers.
The report also details the various medical technology execs Apple has hired in the past year. It has hired so many people in biotechnology that some of the remaining execs sound worried. Joe Kiani, CEO of medical device firm Masimo Corp, said Apple is “just buying people. I just hope Apple is not doing what we’re doing.” Last year, Masimo’s chief medical officer left to join Apple.
“There’s no doubt that Apple is sniffing around this area,” said Ted Driscoll, a partner at a venture capital firm that focuses on digital medical devices.
Since Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple would be entering new product categories this year, many have been expecting the iWatch’s imminent launch. However, according to Re/code, we’ll have to wait a little longer, as Apple is not expected to launch a wearable at its annual World Wide Developers Conference in June.
