Apple has filed an application for a wearable device capable of recording electrocardiographic signals, according to Apple Insider, the latest move by the tech giant to make its mark on the healthcare industry.
In addition, Apple also may be developing a wearable boasting 3-D touch technology that can gather daily health data, including heart rate and blood sugar levels, Apple Insider reported, citing an Economic Daily News post. Apple Insider, which describes the report as rumor, said that Apple is eyeing a 2017 launch and finalizing details with suppliers.
Apple CEO Tim Cook recently spoke with Fast Company about his company’s healthcare strategy. While he didn't mention the EKG device rumors, Cook did say the company has started to look at different areas of healthcare.
"We started looking at wellness, that took us to pulling a string to thinking about research, pulling that string a little further took us to some patient-care stuff, and that pulled a string that’s taking us into some other stuff," Cook said. He also noted the healthcare market’s revenue potential is exponential compared to the smartphone market.
"When you look at most of the solutions, whether it’s devices, or things coming up out of Big Pharma, first and foremost, they are done to get the reimbursement [from an insurance provider]. Not thinking about what helps the patient. So if you don’t care about reimbursement, which we have the privilege of doing, that may even make the smartphone market look small,” he said.
Apple has made a big splash in the healthcare industry in the last couple of years, especially with the releases of ResearchKit, an open-sourced platform created to improve data sharing for clinical trials and research, and most recently, CareKit, a framework that lets health systems and developers build apps to better manage patients' health.
In addition, in June Apple added support for HL7’s Clinical Document Architecture and the Continuity of Care Document to HealthKit to communicate health history in a simple and structured data format.
For more information:
- here's the Apple Insider report
- read the Fast Company article