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Maybe we're missing the boat here. Story is, while Steve was terminally ill he spent his time in hospital conceptualizing better medical devices, etc.. It could be the iWatch is a red herring. Apple could be starting off into innovative medical devices. It's a massive industry. The technology & interfaces they use are comparatively medieval. A good industry to disrupt.

VERY good point. I've speculated that the whole iWatch thing was a ploy to get Samsung et.al. to dump lots of cash into something that will fail and cost them a bundle. It's very logical that they would also use it as a smokescreen for development. Then while the rest are trying to make a go of it selling feature watches to a public that will for the most part be unimpressed, Apple will drop something out of left field that will surprise everyone.
 
I also keep wondering if Apple is working on getting into the medical hardware industry. Think about it, it's very high-tech, very high margins, and the current technology used in that industry seems bloated.
 
I also keep wondering if Apple is working on getting into the medical hardware industry. Think about it, it's very high-tech, very high margins, and the current technology used in that industry seems bloated.


Divide by zero and the patient dies..... Tough industry to just dabble in.
 
I'm very stoked for this technology. I thought that my diabetes was well under control because of the meds I take and so I've gotten kind of sloppy with how I eat and I don't check my blood sugar very often.

So my last labs were six months ago and this week I found out that my A1C had gone from a 5.7 to a 5.9. That's just at the tip of the normal range, and not dangerous yet, but if I was getting readings on a regular basis I might have detected this trend early and skipped a few jelly doughnuts.:D

That's actually a great range! I test about ~20/day, my A1C is 5.5-5.9, highest I ever had was 6.1. I've been diabetic since 12, now 37, and pushing myself everyday to stay in shape.

There was a patent on using infrared tech for BG testing, and the 5+ year study showed no indiscernible result differences when compared to traditional bg testing. The issue, companies would lose billions in test strip sales, and just like alternative fuel vehicle engines, the devices and patents were buried.

A good friend worked as a researcher for J&J then Merck, now a project manager. Pharm companies usually throw 10% of their budget into R&D for cures and the rest for treatment research. There's far more money in test strips, glucose meters, insulin, syringes, not to mention medications to treat complications in older age diabetics that inevitably occur no matter how well you take care of yourself.

Money talks...
 
I don't see this coming to life before 2015/2016.

2014:
- iPhone Air
- redesigned MacMini
- new MacBook category
- new iPad Air
- new Thunderbolt Displays
- iOS 8
- new OSX
- Apple TV announcement

This +1

To many fresh hires. I think the iWatch is something to watch in 2015....no pun intended.
 
Maybe we're missing the boat here. Story is, while Steve was terminally ill he spent his time in hospital conceptualizing better medical devices, etc.. It could be the iWatch is a red herring. Apple could be starting off into innovative medical devices. It's a massive industry. The technology & interfaces they use are comparatively medieval. A good industry to disrupt.

Maybe, but it also seems like an intelligent and wearable health device could have helped Steve.
 
Maybe, but it also seems like an intelligent and wearable health device could have helped Steve.

Actually, what would have helped Steve the most was early traditional medical interventions. He recognized this only after it was too late and he had wasted his time on homeopathic "cures" that didn't work.
 
As much as I want to pat you on the back for being correct (because you used to be), Apple has given up and renamed it the 3rd gen.

See here on the left side for sorting.
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/ipad

Thanks. I am quite aware of that. Obviously it could not hold the name New after the forth generation was launched! I think Apple was going to dump numbers but it appeared people got so confused with the name. Honestly, nothing shocks me anymore when it comes to peoples stupidity!
 
I actually agree with most of this. I don't see tens of millions suddenly becoming health nuts. For some, it will be a great idea. But regardless, there are lots of people who will buy it simply because it's new and Apple makes it. It's been said by many here in these various threads, something to the effect of, "I'll buy it anyway". How far it goes from there is anyone's guess. I think there is a lot of potential with this, but it depends on execution. If it only works with an iPhone, you still have a huge market. If it will work as a stand alone too, an even bigger potential market. But if it's only going to be a health monitoring device, it may not sell like the iPhone and iPad. I'll wait and see how it pans out before I decide.

I think, if Apple is taking interest in health domain and coming up with health wearables , then it will make people aware of their health parameters. Apple would stick to this project for longer period (unlike other tech companies) changing scenario of health awareness. Apple has potential to change habit of people ;)
 
The health-related stuff is probably the coolest development in tech lately, in my opinion. It's really refreshing and cool, at least for me.

As a pre-med student, I agree and am very excited to start using this technology in the not so distant future.

Though, these technologies are still insanely expensive and I think devices like this would be great for the medicine cabinet. I would love to see more non-invasive sensors, especially for blood glucose levels.
 
I think, if Apple is taking interest in health domain and coming up with health wearables , then it will make people aware of their health parameters. Apple would stick to this project for longer period (unlike other tech companies) changing scenario of health awareness. Apple has potential to change habit of people ;)

I'll believe people changing their health habits due to Apple when I see it. For those with specific needs, I can see this being a revolutionary device, but I don't think we'll see blood pressure or glucose monitoring for a while.
 
Actually, what would have helped Steve the most was early traditional medical interventions. He recognized this only after it was too late and he had wasted his time on homeopathic "cures" that didn't work.

I agree with that, but think a device telling him on a daily basis that homeopathic isn't turning things around would have helped. Dismissing doctors would have been easy as he didn't believe or trust them to start with and thought he knew better. Seeing a daily decay of your physiology is hard to argue against. I'm just thinking it would have been less than a year lost to homeopathic, not that it would have erased all of the time.
 
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