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Apple Hires Sleep Expert From Philips Research to Work on iWatch

tdream said:
Does Philips have any good products? Can't remember the last time I bought something philips, maybe in the 80s
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Yes.

They make one of the best electric shavers, for example. They are among the leaders in lighiting tech including energy efficient bulbs like CFL's and LED's as well as inovations like the Hue. They are big in solar. They are leaders in high tech appliances for both home use and industrial/medical/etc.. They have a well regarded innovation and research lab.

They make some great stuff.
 
The only problem with this is, you'd have to have your expensive iWatch on while you sleep. That doesn't sound too appealing to me...
 
Maybe instead of the iWatch as we all think it's going to be called, perhaps, it will be the iBand. Seems more and more like a Nike Fuel Band on steroids plus a clock:)
 
its 1 hire, not necessarily a team. Probably just to get the stupid sleep algorithm improved. Doesn't hurt and its basically an data point the relies on the accelerometer. Who doesn't wear their watch to sleep? I never take off my fairly expensive watch. Not sure why this would be any different.
 
With this it seems like apple will be doing more with the smartwatch than putting apps and info on your wrist. A watch is a all about time and my guess is apple really is going to delve into the relationship between time and peoples' daily lives, making it a tool people will come to rely on for managing their daily schedules.
 
Cook once said about wearable device, that people need a reason to wear such device.
Like these sensors on a watch that could seamlessly check our health, i'm sold!!
 
smizzle said:
Wow, the iWatch keeps sounding better and better. I've gone from no interest to must have over the past few months. The health and fitness stuff is a much bigger draw to me than the weird "smart phone features crammed into a watch" approach we've seen from others. Can't wait for the official reveal!
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I agree!
 
GregAndonian said:
The only problem with this is, you'd have to have your expensive iWatch on while you sleep. That doesn't sound too appealing to me...
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Same here, but only because of comfort, not because of anything to do with the price. Which means it had better be very thin, light, and comfortable. Which are good attributes anyway, but more so for sleep wear.
 
CR7tique said:
Don't understand why Apple is attracted to the wearable tech arena. Personally, I want to carry the least amount possible, and with the gradual integration of nfc capabilities seems as though the wallet will become obsolete sooner than later.
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Because an iWatch is what the iPhone was to the iPod. Look where the iPod is now. Miniaturization of components will eventually allow the iPhone to become second fiddle to the iWatch as the latter takes on more and more function.

Now before you say that an iWatch will never have a big enough screen to replace an iPhone: The original iPhone took on a problem that smartphones had back then. The internet wasn't made for small touch screens. You might have thought back then that you'd still need to carry around a netbook to adequately browse the internet or use developer made applications. The advent of mobile apps purpose built for small touch screens resolved that.

Similarly, Siri is already hinting at how Apple will solve the problem of smaller screens. When you have a question you want answered by the web, instead of giving you a list of websites that might provide that answer, Siri just gives you the answer. An answer that could easily fit on an iWatch wrap around screen and given audibly as well.

iOS7's new simple philosophy is ideal for a watch as well. Apps specifically designed for a small screen that wraps around your wrist will make today's large screen seem totally excessive and redundant.

Productivity, photo/movie viewing will be functions that'll fall to an iPad. You'll probably have to carry an iPad Pro for work anyway. Each tool has its use. Or perhaps AppleTV will make AirPlay displays so common that beaming a photo or video to any nearby TV will become the new norm.
 
tdream said:
Does Philips have any good products? Can't remember the last time I bought something philips, maybe in the 80s
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I have to assume there's some amount of sarcasm here. If he was involved in R&D, it's unlikely that he was involved in determining what products they would make. Phillips has produced working products in a number of areas outside consumer electronics. I think they own Norelco. They have LED lightbulbs. They have been involved in both CCD and CMOS chip development, although I don't know what percentage of their work involves embedded electronics.
 
ipedro said:
Because an iWatch is what the iPhone was to the iPod. Look where the iPod is now. Miniaturization of components will eventually allow the iPhone to become second fiddle to the iWatch as the latter takes on more and more function.

Now before you say that an iWatch will never have a big enough screen to replace an iPhone: The original iPhone took on a problem that smartphones had back then. The internet wasn't made for small touch screens. You might have thought back then that you'd still need to carry around a netbook to adequately browse the internet or use developer made applications. The advent of mobile apps purpose built for small touch screens resolved that.

Similarly, Siri is already hinting at how Apple will solve the problem of smaller screens. When you have a question you want answered by the web, instead of giving you a list of websites that might provide that answer, Siri just gives you the answer. An answer that could easily fit on an iWatch wrap around screen and given audibly as well.

iOS7's new simple philosophy is ideal for a watch as well. Apps specifically designed for a small screen that wraps around your wrist will make today's large screen seem totally excessive and redundant.

Productivity, photo/movie viewing will be functions that'll fall to an iPad. You'll probably have to carry an iPad Pro for work anyway. Each tool has its use. Or perhaps AppleTV will make AirPlay displays so common that beaming a photo or video to any nearby TV will become the new norm.
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Texting. Boom, I broke your entire argument. You can't dictate well enough with Siri to have that as a replacement.

No, I feel Apple still sees the user carrying both an iPhone and an iWatch for some time yet. The only feasible replacement I can see is a box that acts as your central processing unit which you carry and to which all your wearable devices interact. Now it might as well carry a touchscreen; thus you still have an iPhone.
 
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Hate to say it, but the iWatch (or what little has filtered out) sounds....boring.

Got nothing else to say about it.

Tom
 
All these hirings really make me think this new device won't be launched in 2014... Or maybe in time for Christmas? New Apple device + good price (?) could sell a lot in the holidays.
 
Seems like a me too product more and more this does. Just copying everyone else. I bet they launch a fitness device that has a tiny screen which just gives you alerts by icons and that's it, no facility to read any messages etc, due to battery life etc. I bet it'll have a microphone so you can use Siri with it instead haha. Tell your iPhone to reply to a text.
 
I really like the seemingly heavy focus on medical applications of this watch, that should be very exciting for a lot of people. Literally, it could improve or even save lives depending on how much they're able to do.

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apolloa said:
Seems like a me too product more and more this does. Just copying everyone else. I bet they launch a fitness device that has a tiny screen which just gives you alerts by icons and that's it, no facility to read any messages etc
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I really don't understand how you come to that conclusion based on this. To me it's the opposite, they appear to be trying to do things far beyond a "fitness device".
 
tdream said:
Does Philips have any good products? Can't remember the last time I bought something philips, maybe in the 80s
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They seem to be pretty darn good at making medical equipment, like scanners etc:

http://www.medical.philips.com/gb_en/

And Sonicare:

http://www.sonicare.com/

Plus tons of other things, they have made it all I think?

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HiRez said:
I really don't understand how you come to that conclusion based on this. To me it's the opposite, they appear to be trying to do things far beyond a "fitness device".
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Because every other fitness band has sleep monitoring, I don't know of any of the proper smart watches that do it though. Plus the links they have with Nike, i can only see this being more and more of a fitness device like the new Razer Nabu.
Because that way they will make the battery last longer, and reports have stated they have had a lot of trouble with battery life.
 
tdream said:
Does Philips have any good products? Can't remember the last time I bought something philips, maybe in the 80s
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They do, although some of their newer products such as their Hue LED lighting products and 'Friends of Hue LightStrips' are on the pricey side. They still make consumer products such as small appliances, tvs, personal hygiene items such as shavers and the like, but their North American market share is comparatively small.

Until recently, they were best known here under their Norelco and Magnavox brand names. Personally, I really liked their AMBILIGHT tv's, and was sorry to see they didn't catch on in a bigger way. It really expanded whatever you were watching, and made it look more impressive and dramatic.
 
The iWatch is going to be incredible.

It's going to combine lots of personalize health data which is huge. This will probably revolutionize the health industry because for the first time in history millions of people will be tracking their health digitally.

Its going to cause behavioral changes in people who use the product, as they will get accustomed to checking their watch every time they work out, diet, wake up, run, meditate, just to see their health levels in real time.
 
rdlink said:
But I don't want to wear my watch when I sleep...
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I've got both a Nike Fuelband and a Pebble watch, neither would I wear to bed. Maybe if I slept on my back for the full sleep like some robot?
 
Smartass said:
So basically, regarding all the rumors, this will be far from the typical retarded smartwatches that we see today? looks already much more usefull and interesting at this point than those pebble and galaxy smartwatches
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Yeah, I remember reading somewhere that the iWatch will be at least 50% less retarded than other smart watches. ;)
 
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