Apple has long been focused on health. We have seen it in devices themselves, such as the Apple Watch, or in software functions with which to allow the iPhone to enter more in this field. A field in which there is still much to explore and in which it seems that Apple, far from feeling that it has already reached a limit, wants to enter with even more force.
A growing interest in the field of health
Tim Cook has commented on more than one occasion that health will be Apple’s greatest legacy. A claim that is supported by the speed at which Apple is hiring health-related personnel. According to an analysis of contraction trends based on data from LinkedIn, echoed by MacRumors, Apple has increased hiring by 220%. An increase, most of which is concentrated in recent months.
Some data that comes shortly after the CEO of Johnson & Johnson has joined Apple’s board of directors. A news that Apple announced stating that Alex Gorsky is a visionary in health that will bring a “tremendous understanding, experience and passion for technology to the cause of improving lives and building healthier communities.” Words that make clear part of the reason for this movement. Thus, two positions on the board of directors are related to health, the second being the CEO of Genentech, Arthur Levinson.
Returning to the issue of hiring it seems that the company is focusing more on research than in specific products. We have seen, for example, important changes in the iPhone Health app and also in the app Research which, only available in select countries, allows iPhone users to participate in medical studies with world-class healthcare organizations.
It is in the union of software with hardware where the greatest potential in the field of health lies.
These studies are of great value because of the number of participants they manage to gather. What causes conclusions to be drawn much clearer and faster. A resource that represents for researchers a whole new dimension in what a clinical study can achieve.
Without losing sight of the Apple Watch, which is the device around which the vast majority of Apple Health projects revolve, the different hires, as well as the job offers, indicate that Apple is working on both software and hardware. This same offering, for example, is focused on finding a person capable of “leading human study efforts in data collection to support the development and validation of new health sensors and algorithms.”
It is relatively common for us to take for granted what technology can offer us. With each generation of Apple Watch we want to see more sensors, news. Looking back, however, we have to recognize that such a small device can, from its sensors, take something as complex as an electrocardiogram, measure the oxygen concentration in the blood or realize that someone has fallen, It is really impressive. And it seems that all of this is just the beginning.