Health tracking built in with your new smartphone: a new revolution?

WWDC is a big annual event for all things related to Apple and this year it certainly did not disappoint. We have previously covered many mHealth technologies that are paired to the now ubiquitous smartphone but after the main keynote of the event, it seems that Apple, one of the world’s biggest consumer electronics companies, is ready to throw it’s weight behind mHealth as well.

We previously reported the rumours in February where it was suggested that Apple was incorporating Health related features into iOS. Now, the announcement is official with news of HealthKit. The software platform will be built right into iOS, allowing it to “know” the type of data being shared by different sensor hardware. This should shift the brunt of the user side software development work form device manufacturers, allowing them more resources to produce innovate mHealth hardware.

Not to be outdone, rumours have also started emerging of a similar platform being developed by Google for its Android platform. Rumoured to be dubbed “Google Fit”, the still unannounced platform is expected to be revealed at Google’s developer event, I/O which starts later this month on June 25th.

The wave of activity from the major players in the smartphone industry to back mHealth initiatives may be the beginning of another mHealth revolution. This time, it looks like population at large will be the main beneficiary.

News article by Dr Raffy Halim
Source:
–  Apple: https://www.apple.com/ios/ios8/health/
– Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/13/google-launching-google-fit-health-platform/