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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.

Apple Hires Dr. Sumbul Desai

Posted on June 11, 2017 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware, Medical Leave a comment

What it is: Apple recently hired Dr. Sumbul Desai, the executive director of Stanford Medicine’s center for digital health.

Apple has been hiring plenty of medical specialists and their latest hire is Dr. Sumbul Desai, who is running a telemedicine project at Stanford Medicine’s center. In addition, Dr. Desai has also been active in promoting the Apple Watch as a health monitoring device. Clearly Apple isn’t hiring Dr. Desai for no reason. Since the Apple Watch is the closest product they have linked to real-time health monitoring, it’s likely Apple is developing additional health sensors and apps for the Apple Watch.

The future is clear but rivals are simply missing the obvious. Real-time health monitoring is the key to the Apple Watch. A while back, Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, even hinted that he had been wearing a non-invasive glucose monitor to track the foods he’s been eating that can show him how his latest meal affects his glucose levels. By stockpiling medical and health experts, Apple is preparing the Apple Watch for the real-time health monitoring market.

What are rivals doing? Microsoft abandoned their Microsoft Band after two generations after the product failed to capture any meaningful market share. Google is still promoting Android Wear but are they pursuing real-time health with the same fervor as Apple? It doesn’t seem like it. Apple will be able to control both its hardware and software for real-time health monitoring. The fractured natured of Android means hardware manufacturers will need to build health sensors and Google will need to integrate this into Android Wear. This disconnect insures that Android Wear will pale in comparison to the Apple Watch when it comes to real-time health monitoring.

That means Apple is going to dominate a billion dollar industry with little or no competition. With a near monopoly on real-time health monitoring, Apple is poised to dominate a market more thoroughly than the smartphone or tablet market. Real-time health monitoring is the long-term future of Apple and the Apple Watch, along with Apple’s heavy investment in rounding up the best medical specialists around, clearly states Apple’s future.

Today the iPhone generates the most revenue for Apple. Tomorrow it will be the Apple Watch. The iPhone is going to continue growing but the Apple Watch will soon exceed even the iPhone in revenue. It may not happen tomorrow, but it’s going to happen and nobody’s even challenging Apple. When the future comes, expect rivals to be shocked and surprised at the obvious facts that they missed today.

The future is obvious if you just keep your eyes open. Apple is defining the future of health care. One day we’ll all be wearing Apple Watches to monitor our health and when that day comes, Apple will be the most dominant company in the technology and health market.

The Massive Potential of Diabetes Technology

Posted on May 28, 2017 by admin Posted in Hardware, Medical Leave a comment

What it is: Diabetics have been waiting so long for technology to help them that many are creating their own solutions instead.

Diabetes is a terrible problem that affects millions of people all over the world. What’s worse is that technology keeps promising solutions but fails to deliver. The end result is that technology of today closely resembles technology of yesterday for treating diabetes. That’s why many diabetics are done waiting for others to solve their problems and are busy hacking technology to come up with their own solutions.

While an open source hardware and software solution could work, especially with so many minds working on it, this also means theres’s a huge potential for any company to come up with technology to help diabetics monitor their health. That means if Apple can get a non-invasive glucose monitor to work on a wearable computer like the Apple Watch, diabetics and other people can easily monitor their glucose levels without painful and annoying technology that they must use today.

The world of medical technology is in its early days, much like the early days of PCs. That means the market is wide open for any company to offer a solution to help millions of diabetics. Whether that solution comes form open source hardware and software or whether it comes from proprietary solutions like the Apple Watch remains to be seen. Without a question, the solution is coming because the market is too big and the demand too strong. Someone’s going to clean up in this market and that will be the major gold rush for the wearable computer market.

Right now wearables are considered luxury items. Athletes may need wearables to monitor their health and many senior citizens may rely on real-time health monitors as well, but for the average person, wearable computers have no purpose. Yet it’s only a matter of time before wearable computers become commonplace to help prevent diseases of all kinds. Perhaps one day wearable computers could detect early symptoms of colds and the flu to prevent or minimize problems before they get out of hand.

Real-time health monitoring is the key to wearable computers. Just as PCs moved from luxury items to necessities for every business, so will wearable computers move from luxury items for a handful of people to necessities for everyone. The Apple Watch is poised to grab a huge share of the real-time health monitoring market. The big question is what will other companies do?