Irregular readings prompted the move.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: After Google’s axing of its Google Glass project, now it is the turn of Apple to do a rethinking about its ambitious health-monitoring feature in Apple Watch.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Apple has done away with the development of health monitoring feature for their smart watch due to the complex nature of the technology used and regulatory oversight issues.
According to sources from Apple, the project had to be stalled in its infant stage due to discrepancies in the reading detected by the health monitoring sensor, which had anomalies while reading from arms of people with hairy or dry skin.
The report also says that the test done to detect blood pressure or the amount of oxygen in the blood gave irregular readings. Above all, Apple will have to get a formal approval from Food and Drug Administration and other regulators in case their smart device is to provide health and behavior advise based on numbers.
According to the Journal, Apple, without taking risk, has opted for vanilla pulse-rate monitoring technology, which is already prevalent in wearable gadgets. The company has also ordered its suppliers in Asia for five to six million units of Apple watch in the first quarter.
Apple CEO Tim Cook made a low-key statement last week about the Apple Watch hinting that the new device could help prevent cancer.
Cook made the statement during his keynote address at Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, where he said “Some doctors now think that sitting down for long periods is the new cancer, so ten minutes before the hour the Watch software taps you to make you have a walk around.”
He also added that “It’s quite funny to be in a meeting at Apple and ten minutes before the hour people get up and start moving around, but people like it.”