Glucose Sensing Likely Too Challenging to Include in First-Generation iWatch

[mrfoof82]

Interesting territory as it would potentially open them up to medical liability. Tread lightly.

Yep, but once there's an approved version that works well, diabetics will be all over this as it's WAY better than finger sticking. Finger sticks and glucometers/test strips will be a necessity, but having to use it far less often would be ideal.

Also, for those of us who have very well regulated diabetes (A1C of ~ 6.0), a non-intravenous glucometer to warn us of insulin reactions, without having to have a insulin pump would be a HUGE deal.

The wrist-watch glucometer has been the holy grail wished for, for some time. The first company that makes it will have difficulty initially keeping up with demand.

 

[Nunyabinez]

Yes, there's no market for a fitness/health monitoring device. After all, there are only 75 Million diabetics in the US. You'd have a hard time selling enough with that tiny market.

And I heard about this guy who had an idea of opening up a place with weights, and treadmills and a pool so people could come and exercise! I know right! How crazy is that! Look at all the fat people in the US. Who would be dumb enough to spend money on that? There's no way you could make money off something like an "exercise house", or selling health supplements or any of that stuff. What is Apple thinking?

 

[mdelvecchio]

This thing is beginning to sound more and more like the Galaxy S 4.

yeah, except for the fact that the S4 is an actual product whereas this is an unsubstantiated rumor, they are totally the same, right?

 

[Daalseth]

Do you own a bathroom scale? Or do you believe that scales are some sort of weird fancy item only of interest to a few specialized people?
How about a toothbrush? You're willing to brush your teeth everyday, or you think that's too much effort, and the cost of those brushes and toothpaste really adds up.

Look, I know there's a certain type of (rather despicable) human that loves to look down on their fellow countrymen as no better than animals (basically the Nazi view of the world) but try to have a grain of intelligence here. The number of people who truly don't give a damn about their health is a very small percentage of the population.

So the issue is not "Do I care?" (as compared to selling a device that gives you immediate updates of the price of cocoa in Cameroon, something that truly IS a specialized market). The issue is --- is the benefit worth the cost?

Wow...just wow.
You manged to change my observation that most people don't pay much attention about their health into my being an obese Nazi that never brushes his teeth. That's just...wow.

The point that you seem to have missed is that most people DON'T care. Oh they might get on the scale once in a while. They likely do brush their teeth and wipe their own @$$, but just look at the number of smokers, the obesity epidemic, the number of people hurt in stupid preventible accidents, there's a hundred metrics out there that show that in fact most people don't think that far down the road. They give little more than lip service to the state of their health. They may say they care but if they did salad cafe's would outnumber burger joints.

And on your last point I know of far more people that are interested in the value of, maybe not Cocoa, but gold, oil, and the spot price of the US$ vs the Yen and Euro, than those that stand on a scale every single day. I know of far more that monitor the situation in Ukraine than wonder regularly about their cholesterol or blood pressure.

I might be wrong, but I just don't think there's a huge mass market for a health monitor. Unless the "iWatch" does a lot more than nag you about your vital statistics, I don't see it having much appeal. And Apple is all about mass appeal. They want to sell millions of whatever personal device they make.

 

[mdelvecchio]

The more I read about this thing, the less I want one. The endless messages my iPhone pops up are bad enough.

sounds like you need to adjust your notifications -- i only receive the notices i want from the apps i choose.

Can you imagine getting this sort of thing each day?

Hello. It appears you are in or near a restaurant. You should stop eating, you are obese.
Hello. I predict you are about to have heart attack.
[etc]

yes...because thats exactly how apple rolls -- annoying, nagging apps. uh huh.

seriously youre commenting on a rumor of a rumor.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I may be wrong but the whole health aspect of the so called iPhone I can see as a dead end...

By all means have these features as a bonus, but it's not going to be mass market in the same way a phone is, it's is total focus is health

I think "dead end" is a bit much. Fitness equipment is a multi-billion dollar industry in the U.S. alone before adding in other countries. Then add in even more billions in the health care industry. Billions are spent annually on glucose monitors and test strips. Imagine if Apple had a device that eliminated the need for pricking and test strips. That's no minor achievement and certainly won't lead to a dead end. If it's certified by the FDA Apple "sells" millions just to diabetics.

No a fitness-only band like a FuelBand or Fitbit wouldn't likely be worthwhile to Apple, but I'm confident Apple execs understand that or they wouldn't be pursuing the band concept. Many of the Apple band stories of late do focus on the potential health aspects of an Apple band, but none have suggested health is its only or even main focus. Apple isn't a health device company, it's a consumer device company. This isn't its first rodeo. It know how to rope people in to its products. Don't worry there.

 

[CausticSoda]

sounds like you need to adjust your notifications -- i only receive the notices i want from the apps i choose.



yes...because thats exactly how apple rolls -- annoying, nagging apps. uh huh.

seriously youre commenting on a rumor of a rumor.

Yes, I am. To be fair, that is why I am on MacRumours! I guess what I should have said is, "If Apple release an iWatch, and if it monitors health and activity in the way that some people seem to suspect it might, then..." However, on this forum, I tend to think most people would take that as read.

 

[alexmadison]

I thinking of all the people I know who use glucose monitors they really don't seem to be in Apples market demographics

http://win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/

 

[Nunyabinez]

I thinking of all the people I know who use glucose monitors they really don't seem to be in Apples market demographics

http://win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/

You do realize that there are many many people who are not fat who are diabetic don't you?

I spend more than two hours daily exercising and am a diabetic. I'll bet you just don't know how many of your acquaintances are actually diabetic. We usually don't walk around advertising it.

And then there are plenty of fat people that aren't diabetic. What happens is being unfit contributes to diabetes and people who are not fit are more likely to be fat.

And it's not like Apple doesn't sell iPhones to fat people anyway.

 

[MattInOz]

IMO, people fail at losing weight and eating healthy, exercising, etc because it is difficult and takes a lot of discipline and self control to do so. Staying with a plan is very hard for most people to do. And I don't see a monitoring device suddenly giving people the willpower and long term commitment needed to lose weight etc. On the other hand, people with chronic conditions and diseases may find a product like this a Godsend. But will that be the target market? I doubt it.

In school it's easier to stay fit as you have a network of people to be competitive with and competition is a powerful motivator. As you get older that competitive networks drops off and you need to find more personnel motivation.

There seems to a pretty big market already for using tech and social networks to keep your competitive network alive and motivating. I can see why Apple would want in on that.

 

[mejsric]

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Apple's iWatch has been rumored to include a glucose monitoring feature, but how that feature would be implemented is still unknown.

Samesung also dont know how.
Samesung cant wait this iWatch for the next Gear.

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In school it's easier to stay fit as you have a network of people to be competitive with and competition is a powerful motivator. As you get older that competitive networks drops off and you need to find more personnel motivation.

There seems to a pretty big market already for using tech and social networks to keep your competitive network alive and motivating. I can see why Apple would want in on that.

True. Like married woman. "Im married no need to be sexy" until the husband find a sexy lady.

 

[Tech198]

... Apple can never escape lawsuits can they...


Whatever they do, they always upset someone,,, weather its the design, or the technology...

To be fair, Samsung does the same....

Each to their own

The iWatch is not even public yet.... I guess get in early before the birds flock huh ?

 

[MattInOz]

True. Like married woman. "Im married no need to be sexy" until the husband find a sexy lady.

It's like a school reunion everyday.

 

[kdarling]

Interesting territory as it would potentially open them up to medical liability. Tread lightly.

Yes, Apple has always shied away from being involved in medical or control systems.

So it's interesting that Apple is getting into this at all.

For contrast, one might recall Steve Jobs' response to questions at the 2002 National Institutes of Health convention, where doctors were asking if Apple was going to bring out a tablet.

Besides dissing tablets in general, and giving all sorts of reasons why they were n't good enough for things like high-quality images, he put the nail in the coffin of questions by stating that Apple wasn't interested in making any product that might have significant medical liability issues.

However, he's gone, and times change.

 

[ghettochris]

This thing is beginning to sound more and more like the Galaxy S 4. All I'm reading about are a bunch of functions that may 5% of the population will actually care to use on a regular basis.

This whole iWatch thing is BS. Just make a wider iPhone and put out an iOS version that doesn't crash my iPad and let's move on.

It boggles my mind that some people think that digital health bio-integration is just a gimmick that they don't want. You know people said that about internet on phones, right? I can't wait to have a digital instrument panel giving detailed error reports and let me know exact levels of nutrients and hydration and other key health metrics that my analog counterparts like that tell me when i'm thirsty, hungry, sick or hurt fail so miserably at.

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The more I read about this thing, the less I want one. The endless messages my iPhone pops up are bad enough. Can you imagine getting this sort of thing each day?

Hello. It appears you are in or near a restaurant. You should stop eating, you are obese.
Hello. I predict you are about to have heart attack.
Hello. You have entered 60 minutes of swimming exercise this afternoon but my location records show you have been to a pub 4.7 miles from the nearest swimming pool. This message has been sent to all your iOS devices, including your wife's.
Hello Barman. It appears Tom has just asked you for an alcoholic beverage. I do not think you should serve this man. He is 3 alcohol units above his weekly total.
Hello. It appears you need an insulin injection. I think.
Hello. You have been in the pub and movements of your body suggest you may be driving. As you did not tick the "do not grass me up box" this information and your location have been sent to the police.
Hello. It appears you are running. Here are three sports shops near you now.
Hello. Are you in a restaurant? Computing your requirements... You should order lettuce soup, half a cucumber, a cup of lavender tea and, as a treat, 0.0435 g of dark chocolate. Enjoy your meal.
Hello. During your meal you have moved your hand towards your mouth four times. You have either left some food or are putting too much on your fork. Did you know this can lead to an average lifespan reduction of 0.000000687676 days?

No thank you. Not for me.

Haha, everything you said there made me go "hell yeah, I can't wait" Food is a medicine for the body, I wish I had a computer telling me exactly what my body needed to maintain optimum levels. "hunger" and "thirst" are an innacurate joke, not to mention when we notice we have cancer or heart issues...

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Excellent for people who care about such things.
Most consumers don't

Want proof, go and walk in America and look at the general population and see just how many slim, healthy eating, fit, health conscious people there actually are on the streets.

Most people do care about health and want to live longer, there is just no simple convenient way to get assistance. Just because they don't want it, doesn't mean they won't like and use it when someone gives it to them. Nobody seemed to want the fingerprint sensor, hows that seem to be working out for apple?

See the ipod, iphone, ipad for examples of apple making things nobody knew they wanted yet.

 

[tacotester1]

The more I read about this thing, the less I want one. The endless messages my iPhone pops up are bad enough. Can you imagine getting this sort of thing each day?

Hello. It appears you are in or near a restaurant. You should stop eating, you are obese.
Hello. I predict you are about to have heart attack.
Hello. You have entered 60 minutes of swimming exercise this afternoon but my location records show you have been to a pub 4.7 miles from the nearest swimming pool. This message has been sent to all your iOS devices, including your wife's.
Hello Barman. It appears Tom has just asked you for an alcoholic beverage. I do not think you should serve this man. He is 3 alcohol units above his weekly total.
Hello. It appears you need an insulin injection. I think.
Hello. You have been in the pub and movements of your body suggest you may be driving. As you did not tick the "do not grass me up box" this information and your location have been sent to the police.
Hello. It appears you are running. Here are three sports shops near you now.
Hello. Are you in a restaurant? Computing your requirements... You should order lettuce soup, half a cucumber, a cup of lavender tea and, as a treat, 0.0435 g of dark chocolate. Enjoy your meal.
Hello. During your meal you have moved your hand towards your mouth four times. You have either left some food or are putting too much on your fork. Did you know this can lead to an average lifespan reduction of 0.000000687676 days?

No thank you. Not for me.

this made my day

 

[randian]

You do realize that there are many many people who are not fat who are diabetic don't you?

If they're skinny they're usually T1, if not then usually T2. Insulin resistance makes you fat as well as diabetic. Most people don't have the genetic flaw that makes your pancreas fail under load, that's why mere fatness doesn't make them diabetic.

I'll bet you just don't know how many of your acquaintances are actually diabetic. We usually don't walk around advertising it.

If you take insulin you can't help but advertise it. The damn meter and syringe/pen you must always carry are hard to hide.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Samesung also dont know how.

True. Like married woman. "Im married no need to be sexy" until the husband find a sexy lady.

Yeah, and the cheating husband is usually Adonis like and takes great care of himself.

 

[darkplanets]

Induced raman is pretty cool, but doesn't glucose lack any signature stretches in the fingerprint region? It would seem to be pretty challenging to monitor, just like insulin levels, due to the majority of background present. Unlike an engineered system with alkyne or other sp/sp2 fingerprint stretches, there needs to be a lot more development in the raman optics field before endogenous levels can be safely quantified.

Not to mention the little disclaimer that anything carrying this technology would now be considering a medical device, and subject to FDA scrutiny.

 

[Shivetya]

This thing is beginning to sound more and more like the Galaxy S 4. All I'm reading about are a bunch of functions that maybe 5% of the population will actually care to use on a regular basis.

This whole iWatch thing is BS. Just make a wider iPhone and put out an iOS version that doesn't crash my iPad and let's move on.

Well this is what happens when you move into the follower position and give up the leaders position

 

[Rocketman]

I just think it is cool Apple gently encouraged the iWatch rumors, their competitors took it literally and released wrist band based small display devices similar to that Nano Apple released with a watch face.

That misdirection worked. The real Apple iWatch is actually more like a bob that fits in a pocket or purse, or clips to clothing against your skin, a pant or bra or panty, and wirelessly talks to your iPhone.

Catch up copycats.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Well this is what happens when you move into the follower position and give up the leaders position

No, this is what happens when you accept unfounded and basically illogical rumors as truth.

 

[brinary001]

My god it's amazing that Apple even has such a feature in their scopes for the round two iWatch. I feel as though Apple will have really outdone themselves by time this thing is released.

 

[stubeeef]

Noninvasive glucose monitoring has been an elusive goal for a very long time! I hope that Gluco Track actually works, the results will be tested by medschools and patients pretty quickly.
The only US company I can think of that keeps telling their customers they are close, and they've said if for years, is masimo-and they just lost a $5 lawsuit for pushing reps to sell monitoring equipment they were proven to know didn't work.
Lets not over laden this thing, how about it tells time accurately, has some smart interaction with our iPhone, iPad, and laptops/desktops. I would love it to have a microphone feature for instance.

Anyway, beware these medical ability claims, especially if they say FDA approved-that doesn't mean the FDA tested it-just allows them to market the device with medical claims based on documents Apple or whoever submits.