'Smart pajamas' monitor infants wirelessly

Canadian cable and Internet provider Rogers Communications just hooked up with U.S.-based Exmovere to step into the mHealth market.

The two companies will soon be selling Exmovere's "Exmobaby" pajamas, which have embedded sensors to measure infants' temperature and movements, in Canadian retail outlets, according to a story at the Financial Post. The sensor-impregnated onesies have been around since 2010, but Rogers is creating protocols to allow the data to stream from the sensors to be transmitted to parents' smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, iMedicalApps reports.

The move is an interesting one for the communications company, and one that parallels some of what we've seen recently with AT&T, Verizon and Qualcomm's creation of wireless remote monitoring platforms.

"Rogers sees this as a necessary push in the already saturated mobile data market," iMedicalApps blogger Cory Shultz says. "By offering a service like this to its customers, it hopes to capture a new market segment that will be dependent on mobile data for continual use."

It's a move to capture machine-to-machine wireless use, expanding the company's revenue base beyond human wireless users, the Financial Post reports.

It's certainly an interesting twist on the wearable sensor market we've been tracking. While we've told you about smart clothing, underwear and other textiles designed to capture vital sign data from adults, this is the first we've noted smart clothing for infants and their caregivers.

To learn more:
- here's the iMedicalApps story
- check out the Financial Post piece