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The Apple Watch is the Future

Posted on September 13, 2017 by admin Posted in Hardware, Medical Leave a comment

What it is: Apple is conducting studies to detect heart abnormalities with the Apple Watch.

Most people look at Apple and only think of the iPhone. That’s only natural since the iPhone brings in well over half off the revenue for Apple every year. The Macintosh brings in far less than the iPhone and the iPad has never seriously threatened sales of the iPhone. Probably the only part of Apple that is growing fast is Apple’s services such as iTunes, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iBookstore. For the moment, the iPhone is the major revenue generator for Apple.

Yet that won’t always be the case because the Apple Watch is poised to take over. While sales of the Apple Watch haven’t come close to matching sales of the iPhone, they will eventually. That’s because Apple is pushing the Apple Watch as a real-time health monitor and everyone wants to stay alive as long as possible. Apple’s recent work includes detecting heart abnormalities using the Apple Watch. The goal is to detect hearth problems as early indicators of possible problems to address early.

By detecting health problems as early as possible, the Apple Watch can keep people healthier. Not everyone needs an iPhone but everyone needs their health. Some people can get by with cheaper Android smartphones but nobody will want to use an alternative to the Apple Watch if those alternatives don’t offer real-time health monitoring like the Apple Watch can do. The Microsoft Band is dead and Android Wear is limping along with few innovations for wearable computers coming from the Android camp.

That pretty much leaves the Apple Watch as the best and only alternative to real-time health monitoring. As more people discover the health benefits of the Apple Watch, they’ll improve their health and stay alive longer, living more productive lives with less pain. For people who refuse to use an Apple Watch, they can look forward to not detecting early health problems so they can get sick from preventable causes. Is that really worth the price to avoid using an Apple Watch?

Because real-time health monitoring will be so important, you can be certain the Apple Watch will become a necessary accessory for everyone, especially the elderly. One day, sales of the Apple Watch will surpass sales of the iPhone. Now that the Apple Watch can make phone calls without tethering to a nearby iPhone, the Apple Watch can be perfect for senior citizens who will always have a way to call for help strapped to their wrists every day.

The Apple Watch is already changing the lives of people and will only continue to do so far into the future. The revolutionary product of tomorrow isn’t the iPhone but the Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch as a Health Device

Posted on August 14, 2017 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware, Medical, Software Leave a comment

What it is: Aetna may partner with Apple to deliver free or discounted Apple Watches to Aetna subscribers.

On huge factor that can lower health care costs will be wearable computers that can track a person’s health in real-time. That’s why Aetna may give subscribers free or discounted Apple Watches to help monitor their health. The healthier people remain, the less money Aetna will need to spend so the Apple Watch promises to improve health care and financial costs at the same time by focusing on preventing problems before they can get out of hand.

Real-time health monitoring is the key to wearable computers like the Apple Watch. The key to the Apple Watch is usability. With a computer, you can work at it for hours at a time. With a mobile device like a smartphone, you may only use it for a minute or two on average. With a wearable computer, your interaction with the device can be measured in seconds.

That’s why the idea of playing games on an Apple Watch is relatively pointless because the screen is too small and a smartphone or tablet screen offers more visual real estate in addition to stronger processing power and graphics. Each type of computing device excels in tasks the others can’t duplicate and it all boils down to time.

Can you monitor your health on a desktop PC? Yes, but the moment you step away from your computer, you lose any real-time health monitoring benefits. With wearable computers, your device can track your health at all times without you needing to be consciously aware of it.

Aetna will likely save money giving away or discounting Apple Watches for its subscribers. That means other health insurance companies will likely follow suit so they can save money as well. From an insurance company’s perspective, saving money is the goal. From a patient’s perspective, staying healthy is the goal.

Fortunately with the Apple Watch, both sides can achieve their goals at the same time. If you want to stay alive and stay healthy, you want a wearable computer such as the Apple Watch. Real-time health monitoring is the future of health care so you can wait for your insurance company to give you an Apple Watch, or you can get the benefits of an Apple Watch by buying one yourself. Either way, you’ll soon rely on real-time health monitoring to improve your health and lower health care costs at the same time.

Apple Sneaking Into the Health Records Industry

Posted on July 19, 2017 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware, Medical, Software Leave a comment

What it is: Cedars-Sinai hospital is using iPads for both storing and displaying health information.

The huge mistake rivals make is that they try to duplicate and surpass the hardware features of their products compared to Apple products. That’s a huge mistake because it’s easy to shove more advanced hardware into a product. What’s more difficult is giving people a reason to use that advanced hardware.

In the smartphone and tablet market, rivals try to compete against Apple with lower prices and better technical specifications. That’s a recipe for failure. While rivals worry about prices and hardware specifications, Apple is moving towards making their products useful. One huge market that doesn’t care about prices or hardware specifications is the medical and health industry.

Cedars-Sinai hospital is using iPads for several purposes. One way is to use FaceTime to allow parents and children to interact when the children have infection diseases and need to be kept separate from other people. However, a far more interesting use for the iPad is to store and display medical information. Of course, any tablet or computer could do that. What Apple hopes to do is store medical information in a standard electronic format that’s also secure.

Now when you talk about security and online access, there can never be complete security. However, the availability and accuracy of medical information stored digitally means that health records can be accurately and quickly transferred among doctors and hospitals.

Right now, medical records are far more secure when stored in separate databases and pieces of paper. However, the huge drawback is the lack of accuracy and inability to transfer crucial information to others when needed. More than once, patients have been given penicillin or other antibiotics even though their medical records show they’re allergic to those medication. Today’s paper and half-solutions on a computer trade security for inaccuracy and inability to share.

By itself, there’s nothing special about the iPad when it comes to inputting and displaying medical information. What’s important is how that information gets stored and accessed securely, and that’s where Apple can make the iPad more secure than much cheaper Android tablets. First of all, iOS is far more secure than Android. Second, Apple can design security in rather than slap it on at a later date.

Hospitals are far less likely to be swayed by lower prices and better technical specifications than they are with devices that work and securely display information as sensitive as medical records. The iPad is never going to reach sales records it hit when it was first introduced. Instead, the iPad will find a new market in the enterprise world where price and minor hardware improvements matter far less than security and simplicity.

Apple’s big future lies in health. Real-time health monitoring will boost sales of the Apple Watch while health records will help boost sales of the iPad. While not everyone has a need for an Apple Watch or an iPad, everyone does have a need for maintaining their health. The only question is whether you’re willing to pay the price for better health or not.

The Smart Toothbrush

Posted on July 18, 2017 by admin Posted in Hardware, Medical Leave a comment

What it is: Philips Sonicare is launching a new smart toothbrush that connects to an app via Bluetooth.

Most people brush their teeth without knowing how well they’re really doing until they get feedback six months to a year later from their dental hygienist. Such lengthy times between feedback means that dental problems caused by improper brushing can persist and cause problems without being detected.

To solve this problem, Philips Sonicare offers a Bluetooth enabled toothbrush that connects to a smartphone app. By viewing the app on your smartphone, you can see which parts of your teeth you’ve brushed properly and which areas you may have missed. Now based on this immediately feedback, you can correct the problem before it gets out of hand.

The idea of as Bluetooth-enabled toothbrush might seem a bit like technological overkill, but it does present the idea of immediate feedback in ways that ordinary toothbrushes can’t match. Knowing how well you’re brushing and seeing a picture on a smartphone app can turn brushing into both feedback and a game. By proper brushing, under the guidance of a smart toothbrush, you can take better care of your teeth.

Real-time health monitoring is the killer app for wearable and mobile computers. Anyone want to monitor their heart rate using a regular PC? Want to exercise and track your calories burned by lugging a laptop around all the time? Mobile and wearable computers are reaching into areas that traditional computers can never access, which means we can expect new health breakthroughs beyond real-time tooth brushing feedback.

As more devices get smarter, it’s not hard to believe that routine eye exams, hearing exams, and even medical exams can be conducted entirely on smartphones and wearable computers. While some people don’t see a need for a wearable computer like an Apple Watch, everyone can see a need for maintaining their health through mobile and wearable computers. Initially, expect the elderly and the sick to embrace health monitoring apps and wearable computers. Then expect ordinary consumers to embrace real-time health monitoring to prevent problems before they can occur.

Apple is already testing a non-invasive glucose monitor that can show you the effect certain foods (candy, ice cream, soda, etc.) can have on your body while you’re eating it. Once you can see how negatively certain foods affect your body, you can modify your behavior (hopefully) based on this immediately, real-time feedback.

Health monitoring will be what makes wearable computers essential to practically everyone. While a smart toothbrush might seem like a gimmick, you can already imagine how its real-time feedback feature can be valuable and worth the price for better dental care. If you value yourself and your teeth, why wouldn’t you want a device that could improve your health at minimal cost?

To learn more about the Sonicare, smart toothbrush, click here.

The Death of Jawbone

Posted on July 7, 2017 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware, Medical Leave a comment

What it is: At one time, Jawbone was a major competitor in the fitness tracking market. Now they’re liquidating their assets.

Pebble and Jawbone, along with Fitbit, were the leaders in the fitness tracking market. Then the Apple Watch appeared, which spawned rivals like Microsoft Band and Android Wear. Yet after several years when critics complain that the Apple Watch isn’t a big hit, rivals in the wearable computer market have faded away. Pebble is gone. Microsoft abandoned Microsoft Band after two versions, and now Jawbone is shutting down.

Meanwhile, Android Wear hasn’t achieved massive success and market share like Android, and Fitbit is struggling against the Apple Watch. Sales of the Apple Watch aren’t massive, but they’re steady and growing, proving that the Apple Watch isn’t a flop like the cylinder Mac Pro, but also isn’t a massive hit like the iPhone. Yet the demise of so many fitness tracking companies shows that the Apple Watch is killing the wearable computer market.

In the old days, there was a netbook market too. Then the iPad killed that. In the old days, there was also a smartphone market led by Blackberry, Nokia, and Microsoft. The iPhone killed that. Although the Apple Watch hasn’t proven massively successful, neither was the iPhone in its first few years of existence. Only after the iPhone offered an App Store and spread to more carriers did sales take off.

The Apple Watch will likely follow a similar path. For most people, it’s not a crucial product, but when Apple starts offering more intensive real-time health monitoring sensors such as a non-invasive glucose monitor, expect sales of the Apple Watch to skyrocket. That’s when the Apple Watch will more closely resemble the massive success of the iPhone.

Until then, the Apple Watch is succeeding simply by not failing like Jawbone, Pebble, or the Microsoft Band. Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, has hinted that he wears a glucose monitor, but never mentioned who made that glucose monitor. It seems unlikely that he would mention another company’s products for no reason, so given the intense rumors about Apple researching non-invasive glucose monitors, it seems logical that Tim Cook was hinting about Apple’s own glucose monitor. When that arrives, expect the Apple Watch to become the massive hit that the iPhone is right now.

In fact, expect the Apple Watch to exceed the iPhone. The iPhone is a necessary luxury that people can do without by either getting another smartphone or avoiding smartphones altogether. But in today’s world, a smartphone is a near necessity like owning a car in most parts of America. Tomorrow, the Apple Watch will become a critical luxury that everyone concerned about their health will want. When people can see exactly how the foods they’re eating is affecting their health, expect to see fewer customers wearing Apple Watches eating at places like McDonald’s.

The Apple Watch is going to change the world like the iPhone has changed the world. While most people want a smartphone, they’re going to practically need a real-time health monitor like the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch will still be a luxury, but it will be one that people will want just the same.

Watching wearable computer rivals fade away like Jawbone, Microsoft Band, and Pebble is simply the early signs of the Apple Watch’s dominance. In the next few years, expect the Apple Watch to dominate and this health focus will make the Apple Watch the most needed product in the world.

The iPhone for Storing Health Records

Posted on June 15, 2017 by admin Posted in Hardware, Medical Leave a comment

What it is: Apple is rumored to be working on further development of electronic storage of health records on the iPhone.

Everyone has a health history that doctors need to know about from allergic reactions to antibiotics to previous surgeries or diseases you may have gone through. Strangely, our medical records are often still stored on paper, which makes them difficult for the patient to access and review, and even harder for doctors in other parts of the world to review if they need to do so.

That’s why Apple has been steadily targeting the health industry. First, Apple wants to monitor health in real-time using wearable computers like the Apple Watch. Second, Apple wants to store health records digitally on devices like the iPhone and Apple Watch. The idea is that your health records should be a crucial part of your identity that doctors need to access conveniently.

If you got hit by a car today and were rushed to an emergency room, how many doctors there would know anything about your medical history that could seriously affect your treatment? Yet if your medical records were stored on your iPhone or Apple Watch, doctors could access that data with your permission. (Hopefully you won’t be unconscious.)

The goal of storing health records digitally on Apple devices will simply help draw more people to Apple products. While rivals narrowly focus on faster processors or sharper resolution screens, Apple is looking at the long-term future for why people might want to buy and use their products in the first place. In the Android world, what’s the difference between an HTC, Samsung, and LG smartphone? Beyond cosmetic appearances and minor technical specifications, not much since all of those Android smartphones will generally behave and perform identically.

Why would someone want to use an iPhone instead of an Android phone? On a surface level, there’s little difference but look beyond the physical features and you’ll see a growing gap. Want to use Apple Pay, which is accepted at more places than Samsung Pay? Then you need an iPhone. Like the convenience of working on multiple devices and having your data show up on the screen you’re currently using? Then you’ll probably want an iPhone and a Macintosh instead of an Android phone and a Windows or Linux PC. Want to store your health records securely? Then you’ll want an iPhone in the future.

Health records are important and putting them within easy accessibility for patients and doctors alike will change the medical industry drastically. That’s the kind of change Apple looks for in disrupting markets and creating long-term value in their products. The iPhone is far more secure than similar Android phones and that security gap will never shrink as long as Android device manufacturers focus less on updates and security.

The Android business model depends on selling loads of Android devices to make money. Testing updates and offering security updates is a financial liability that does not help Android device manufacturers one bit. That’s why the latest version of Android, with the latest security updates, rarely makes it to the majority of Android smartphones.

Apple’s latest health records focus is simply laying the foundation for the future. Health is the next killer app that everyone needs whether you’re young or old. If you’re alive, you need your health and devices that monitor and store your health data will be valuable to everyone on the planet. Not everyone may need a PC, but everyone needs their health and if an Apple product can improve your health, then there’s a huge market for Apple to pursue.

Apple has been quietly laying the foundation of their health initiative for years. Storing health records on an iPhone may not appear tomorrow or even in the next few years, but it’s coming soon. It’s inevitable.