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Thats just like Apple, Lol. We know we might be violating a patent, but lets get in all the Christmas sales we can first. Sales should have been halted immediately.
They technically have til 12/25 to halt sales due to the presidential review period. It appears they are voluntarily halting them early but don't let facts get in the way.
 
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Or they saw nothing special from other other companies are doing and moved on...

Maybe. But the background of this story doesn’t seem to indicate that. And Apple has been accused of exactly this many times before. I mean this is right out of the Steve Jobs playbook.
 
just turned off auto update on my watch. I paid good money for these features, if Apple tries to remove them for something I paid for, im sure I can sign up for a class action lawsuit down the road and win my 8$

I am willing to bet Apple has a way to force the update onto a device as soon as it connects to the internet and calls home.

Forced update is a pretty standard security thing build but it is also a switch you rarely want to use but you want to have.
 
They also compete in consumer audio. Yes, the medical tech company owns audio brands like Marantz and Denon. It’s safe to say that they view Apple as a direct competitor, which certainly does color all of their actions.

They might but I have worked in enough of those companies that even with out built in firewalls different brands internally are just saw as a different company and have little affect on decision.

In this case those audio companies would not even factor or thought about in this decision.
 
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Hmmm keep the one we bought a family member for Christmas? or return it? Then again have to January 8th for returns and Garmin may be the better way to go. Heck, the battery life is much much better.

HEY Apple have the engineers fix the GPS being on ALL the time and you'd get much better battery life.
 
Yes they have to say that or the risk the being declared a medical device which would then require pre-clearance by the FDA (which would then include submitting test data -- possibly from clinical trials -- to demonstrate the quality and limitations of its measurements).

With that disclaimer and general context, the FDA considered measuring blood oxygenation with devices like the Apple Watches (and almost any pulse ox you'll find at CVS, etc which probably use the exact same language) some sort of entertainment. Kind of like seeing how high you can jump or how many pushups you can do.
Yeah, I get that. I work in this kind of regulatory field ;-)

I'm not sure I'd characterize what you noted (pulse oximeters, etc.) as "entertainment". Health and general wellness devices are under FDA enforcement discretion which means they are subject to FDA regulations, but currently the FDA is, under its own discretion, not enforcing the applicable provisions.
 
The verdict is from October so there was no reason to turn this into a “rush”, so, no, it doesn’t make sense
I wondered about that too. I imagine that since October, or before, Apple would have in the background be prepared to lose this case at least at this level and have an immediate response to switch over to something viable that still allows them to sell Series 9 and Ultra.

I'm a bit surprised that Apple has come out to officially say they'll halt sales on Dec 21. You'd think that months before, they'd have a strategy in the works so that it doesn't lead to them having to make such a public announcement.

To me, this would make a good investigative journalism to see what's going on behind the scenes.
 
Will it be a 'fix' like they did with the original AirPods Pro ANC's patent workaround where they completely dismantled the effectiveness of the ANC compared to the original exceptional ANC performance in the original firmware?
 
Seems to me it would serve them well to just disable the feature altogether in software for US bound watches coming from the factories. They can reenable once this is sorted one way or another.
 
My mistake, I conflated the consumer ones with the medical ones. $600? I don’t think you’d get that much of an accuracy improvement for your money, but it IS healthcare.
Yup -- put medical grade in front of something and the price category changes. Some of it is not even the accuracy but the assurance of accuracy and reliability (as made official by the regulatory process). I believe something similar happens in aviation among other industries.
 
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I find that the oxygen sensor isn’t very accurate in the ultra. I’ve tested it several times with an actual pulse oximeter and the Apple Watch was always off 2 to 3 units which is significant if you’re measuring for hypoxemia.
Exactly, it’s a gimmick. When I tested my Ultra side by side with a fingertip pulse oximeter the results were never the same. Additionally my parents (physicians) say that there’s no good way to get an accurate reading on a thick part of the body like the wrist. They use finger tips for a reason.
 
They also compete in consumer audio. Yes, the medical tech company owns audio brands like Marantz and Denon. It’s safe to say that they view Apple as a direct competitor, which certainly does color all of their actions.
Interesting that is a very recent -- April 2022 -- change in market. I liked Denon from the pre-PE days and can't say that PE did much for their products. Masimo's acquisition of Denon's holding company marks a dramatic shift in strategy for Masimo: going from a highly regulated B2B segment to a B2C segment fighting it out in the trenches of Best Buy and the like.
 
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The verdict is from October so there was no reason to turn this into a “rush”, so, no, it doesn’t make sense
They are/were expecting a quiet White House pardon (specifically: Presidential House veto on the ban regarding the use of SpO2 sensor by Apple), but now it's gone public and they might as well bypass this sensor. Anyway, they are expected to redesign the watch in 2024 and no longer use said sensor.
 
Exactly, it’s a gimmick. When I tested my Ultra side by side with a fingertip pulse oximeter the results were never the same. Additionally my parents (physicians) say that there’s no good way to get an accurate reading on a thick part of the body like the wrist. They use finger tips for a reason.
That's been my experience as well. I was actually at work one day and got a reading so low that if accurate...I should've been blue 😂 Checked with a finger sensor and sure enough...everything was fine.
 
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Have you considered that Masimo are not up for sale? You can’t just buy companies because you have the money.
Yes and no -- in this case Masimo is publicly traded (the risk one takes with that kind of financing). And interestingly enough in this case most float is held by institutional investors with #1 being BlackRock (followed by Fidelity and Vanguard). Unless the founder/CEO has some special rights, I am sure there is a price a firm like BlackRock would accept...
 
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Exactly, it’s a gimmick. When I tested my Ultra side by side with a fingertip pulse oximeter the results were never the same. Additionally my parents (physicians) say that there’s no good way to get an accurate reading on a thick part of the body like the wrist. They use finger tips for a reason.
So far, they don't claim measurement accuracy (would make them liable regarding health data), just increase vs decrease.
 
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Governments REALLY need to do something about patent trolls.
I wouldn't call this company -- or at least the original Masimo a patent troll. They were founded in 1989 to produce better medical-grade pulse oximeters (and the like) finally getting their product to market 1998. Which was around the time that resurected Steve Jobs brought out the iMac. Who would have thought in 1998 that those two companies were on a collision course around wearable consumer medical products...
 
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HEY Apple have the engineers fix the GPS being on ALL the time and you'd get much better battery life.
Sure, but your cellular operator & law enforcement agencies want your location and Call Details Records available all time, in case you're lost in the forest. Cutting off GPS or Precise Location only means your apps no longer read it.
 
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