Health app developers to leverage power of supercomputer

Watson, IBM's artificially intelligent computer system which competed on the Jeopardy! game show, will soon make its resources available to developers worldwide with a new cloud-hosted marketplace, and healthcare will be one of the main applications of the technology.

The IBM Watson Developers Cloud will allow application providers to develop Watson-powered apps. The marketplace will include a developer toolkit, educational materials and access to Watson's application programming interface. IBM also will be launching a Watson Content Store, a cloud-hosted network where app providers can connect with third-party content providers.

Partners are already building apps, which IBM plans to get to market in early 2014, including MD Buyline, a system that provides access to a research assistant to help clinical and financial users to make real-time, informed decisions about medical device purchases. In addition, Welltok has developed a system that rewards patients for engaging in healthy behaviors. Article