There’s been a lot of excitement in the run up to the spring launch of Apple’s entry into the smart watch, particularly the healthcare applications for it. But an article from The Wall Street Journal said the April debut of the watch won’t include a lot of anticipated digital health tools.
It references unnamed sources who said executives had initially envisioned it as “a state-of-the-art health-monitoring device that could measure blood pressure, heart activity and stress levels.” Among the reasons why these applications didn’t make it into the first version of the watch were they didn’t work reliably, were too complex or may have required FDA clearance.
A video interview on The Wall Street Journal’s website with technology reporter Daisuke Wakabayashi, who penned the article, detailed some of the challenges. He said the watch’s monitoring functions were hard to calibrate for different types of people such as those with hairy arms, different skin tones, and dry skin. How tight the watch was worn also affected its readings.
“It encountered all sorts of unexpected complications that forced apple to switch direction and produce a more generalized device,” Wakabayashi said.
The variability of wearables’ accuracy is the kind of weakness that poses a challenge to the growth of this market. A University of Pennsylvania study last week drew attention to this issue. It suggested that smartphone apps were more consistent at measuring things like steps than wearables, which run anywhere from $60 to $200. Wearable technology developer Valencell’s president noted that there were inherent problems with the accuracy of wrist-worn wearables. The company has developed a way of tracking vital signs through earphones and armbands.
Wakabayashi noted that even though the more streamlined version of the smart watch wasn’t likely to put off core Apple technology enthusiasts, it could affect the smart watch’s appeal for non-fan boys. Apple’s track record and brand appeal suggests that it is positioned to perform stronger than its rivals in the smart watch arena. The article cites ABI Research, which estimates that Apple will sell 11.8 million Apple Watches in 2015. That figure would be about half of all wearable devices, including fitness trackers and non-Android smartwatches.
