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Apple has posted at least four job listings since November seeking biomedical engineers and technicians to join the research and development arm of its Health Technologies team, reports BuzzFeed News.

Apple's current health and fitness initiatives include the Apple Watch, launched last April with a heart rate sensor and activity tracking, and ResearchKit, an open source medical research framework for clinical trials on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

The rumored Apple Watch 2 is expected to launch in March with several improvements, possibly including a FaceTime Camera and expanded Wi-Fi capabilities, but Apple's health and fitness ambitions beyond its next-generation smartwatch remain open to speculation.

Apple CEO Tim Cook stirred speculation in November when he said that while Apple does not want to subject the Apple Watch to U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, the company is not against the idea of putting adjacent products like apps or "something else" through the FDA.

Since then, Apple has made a number of hirings that suggest it may be working on a new health and fitness project.
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BuzzFeed News also found that over the last three or so months, Apple has snapped up employees from the medical world, according to LinkedIn. For example, Anne Shelchuk, who has a doctorate in biomedical engineering, left ultrasound software company ZONARE Medical Systems for Apple's health technology team in November. [...]

Craig Slyfield, a mechanical engineer who's co-authored several papers related to measuring and visualizing human bones in 3D, also joined Apple as a product development engineer in November. A hire in October was system design engineer Nathan Clark, who has a doctorate in biomedical engineering and a patent for a device that separates cells.
Last March, ABC provided a closer look at Apple's top-secret health and fitness lab where it collected more than 18,000 hours of health and fitness data from over 10,000 workout sessions by Apple employees. Apple COO Jeff Williams is known to lead the Apple Watch team internally, while Director of Fitness for Health Technologies Jay Blahnik, a former Nike FuelBand consultant, also plays a key role.

Article Link: Apple Hiring for Health Technologies Team Ahead of Apple Watch 2
 

OldSchoolMacGuy

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"Ahead of Apple Watch 2"

Who says the Apple Watch 2 isn't pretty much finalized and in testing now, for announcement and release soon?
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Why does the headline even reference "ahead of Apple Watch 2"? It's not like these hires will have any sort of effect (direct or otherwise) on the AW2. It's already finalized.

Exactly. Someone writing these doesn't understand product cycles. The next iPhone is close to being finalized around the time the new one is announced each year. It takes months of testing, followed by months of production, to release them on release-day. It's not something they finalize the day before they present it to the public.

Look at OS X. They show a half-baked developer preview at WWDC and then allow them more than 3 months of testing with it before releasing. And that's software. Something they can modify and push out new builds easily. The same can't be done with hardware. It takes months of real-world testing with prototypes, hardware tweaks, and then finalization. This is all done months before the announcement comes.
 

5-0-5-0

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Apr 21, 2015
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This article may have had some form of pertinence if posted in 2015. The Apple
Watch 2 is most likely finalized and completed at this point. Not sure why Joe Rossignol posted such late information.
 
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Rogifan

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Nov 14, 2011
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Never going to happen. That's a huge point of the Apple Watch existing. It keeps people on the iPhone and prevents people from moving to Android. Means a lot more money for Apple. They're never going to separate the two.
What does the watch being independent have to do with Android? If the watch was truly independent would you even need a smartphone to set it up? Seems to me it's battery life more than anything that's keeping the watch tethered to an iPhone.

I can't wait to see Ive explaining in the promo video how they were able to make it thinner than the first model and somehow they couldn't do it before.
And that is relevant to this article how exactly?
 
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Sirious

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Do people really think they will add a FaceTime camera?

People give me funny looks when I use my Apple Watch to pay for things, and seeing people FaceTime-ing on them will be totally weird.
 

HobeSoundDarryl

macrumors G5
Never going to happen. That's a huge point of the Apple Watch existing. It keeps people on the iPhone and prevents people from moving to Android. Means a lot more money for Apple. They're never going to separate the two.

Right, actually, I expect them to merge. Eventually Apple Watch will be an iPhone. No separation... think merger.
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Good idea for Apple Watch 2:

Same design.
Twice as fast.
Longer battery life.

It's not an Apple new product if "thinner" is not the very first, most important "innovation" in such a list. Must be thinner. Must be thinner. Must. Must. Must.
 

citysnaps

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Oct 10, 2011
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Why does the headline even reference "ahead of Apple Watch 2"? It's not like these hires will have any sort of effect (direct or otherwise) on the AW2. It's already finalized.

Was there a claim that these hires would have an "effect" on the launch of AW2?
 

profets

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Mar 18, 2009
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I really hope one day to have built in GPS and full waterproofing so it can be used for swimming (primarily lane swimming). With 9.3/2.2 I'm happy to see a bit more focus on workouts. I'd love to be able to use it for all workouts (currently swimming is the only activity I have to remove it for).
 

npmacuser5

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Apr 10, 2015
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Right, actually, I expect them to merge. Eventually Apple Watch will be an iPhone. No separation... think merger.
[doublepost=1452622697][/doublepost]

It's not an Apple new product if "thinner" is not the very first, most important "innovation" in such a list. Must be thinner. Must be thinner. Must. Must. Must.
The iPhone is moving rather quickly to being a hub for devices like the Apple Watch and tethering other devices like iPads and even Mac's. I am reducing my iPhone screen time significantly. Interesting times we live in for technology.
 
Exactly. Someone writing these doesn't understand product cycles.

While I agree with your premise (as I posted the same) I don't agree with this conclusion. Adding reference to Apple Watch 2 just makes the headline "flashier". The article doesn't even try to imply that these health hires will add to the AW2, it was added to the headline to make the story more interesting. I can't really blame MR much; especially because they are one of the better websites at not "click baiting" headlines (You won't believe what Tim Cook said during the XXX interview!), but they still like to jazz 'em up unnecessarily.
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Was there a claim that these hires would have an "effect" on the launch of AW2?
That's my point. Why mention it at all?
 

McScooby

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Oct 15, 2005
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The Paps of Glenn Close, Scotland.
Never going to happen. That's a huge point of the Apple Watch existing. It keeps people on the iPhone and prevents people from moving to Android. Means a lot more money for Apple. They're never going to separate the two.
I'd never say that, don't know how legitimate it would be, but if apple ever introduce a 'permanent' soft sim on the phone to replace the card as they're pushing, who's not to say a soft sim in the watch could clone it, 1 sim card from networks, 2 devices to use it?
 
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name99

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Jun 21, 2004
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Why does the headline even reference "ahead of Apple Watch 2"? It's not like these hires will have any sort of effect (direct or otherwise) on the AW2. It's already finalized.

Not necessarily. If they are working on, for example, sleep tracking, that could be delivered as an app/OS update even on existing aWatch1.
For some health issues, what we need is better data visualization and pattern tracking, rather than just the data collection. An easy example of what I mean is weigh tracking. The best weigh tracking apps in the iOS store now use appropriate statistical smoothing techniques to strip out the daily noise in your weight to give you a cleaner signal. Something like http://happyscale.com
Maybe this functionality should be in the OS? (Or if not the app, because Apple seems to want to maintain a space for developers as far as possible; but perhaps the fancy statistical and smoothing code so that at least all these 3rd party apps are doing the analysis correctly...)

Sleep is a similar space where, right now, analysis and visualization is at a primitive state. There are apps that track sleep on the Apple Watch, like https://david-smith.org/blog/2015/09/21/how-to-wear-your-apple-watch-24-slash-7/
and they work pretty well for capturing data; but the analysis part really could be improved.

I could see that be having Apple hire some domain specialists and consult with others, they could keep adding value in successive more capable software updates.
 
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OldSchoolMacGuy

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Do people really think they will add a FaceTime camera?

People give me funny looks when I use my Apple Watch to pay for things, and seeing people FaceTime-ing on them will be totally weird.

Doubt it. Camera takes up a lot of space and there isn't a surplus of space on the watch now. You have to have an iPhone to use the Apple Watch so just use that FaceTime camera.

Holding your one arm up the entire time you're on a FaceTime call would also suck.
 
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Zirel

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I can't wait to see Ive in the promo video explaining how they were able to make it thinner than the first one and somehow they couldn't do it before.
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That's just you, and people that don't understand the meaning of "technology" in the tech business, but feel like an expert all the time.
 
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