Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is seeing success from its strategy of steering the Apple Watch to focus on health and fitness. There have been rumblings that AAPL is planning to integrate a glucose meter for diabetics, and the company also recently bought Beddit, acquiring advanced sleep tracking technology.
But how to incorporate these features in a new Apple Watch with limited physical space, limited battery life and without having the price skyrocket? BGR spoke to sources who suggest AAPL is working on Apple Watch smart bands; optional accessories that add features to the base
AAPL: Glucose Monitoring for Diabetics
We’ve previously reported on the rumors that AAPL is hard at work on a new Apple Watch feature that would measure blood glucose levels. If Apple were able to pull that off, it would be a huge coup. Diabetes is a global scourge, living with the condition means actively managing blood sugar levels and that means constantly having to prick a finger to draw blood for testing. A new Apple Watch equipped with a sensor that could accurately track blood glucose levels without the need for physical blood tests would be huge win in terms of sales.
BGR’s source says Apple is planning to introduce the “game-changing” feature of blood glucose monitoring in a new Apple Watch. According to that source, AAPL has hired 200 PhDs in the past year alone, as it focuses on the health capabilities of its smartwatch.
The question is, how do you incorporate a blood glucose sensor into the Apple Watch when the existing form factor is already packed with technology and frequently criticized for being bulky? And how do you add such an advanced feature without driving the price of a new Apple Watch through the roof? Diabetics may buy it, but a big price hike would scare off many consumers.
BGR says the company is also developing Apple Watch smart bands, and these optional accessories are the answer to adding functionality without radically changing the design or driving up the base price of the Apple Watch.
Apple Watch Smart Band
Apple’s primary rival in the health and fitness wearable space Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT) may have bought the assets of Pebble, but AAPL is looking at one of the smartwatch pioneer’s more interesting ideas.
Pebble offered support for “smart straps,” third party watch straps that added functionality like wireless payments to Pebble smartwatches. That idea never really took off in a big way, but BGR suggests Apple is using the approach with Apple Watch smart bands.
These would allow AAPL to keep the core Apple Watch essentially unchanged (and at the same price), while giving customers the option to add features via optional, add-on Apple Watch smart bands. Possibilities include a smart band with additional battery life, a camera and … that blood glucose sensor.
An Apple watch smart band with an integrated blood glucose meter would give AAPL that killer device for diabetics, without the need to either hike the price of the base smartwatch, or create an entirely new Apple Watch lineup specific to the health market.
As BGR points out, integrating the sensor in an Apple Watch smart band instead of the smartwatch itself also avoids a key downside to smartwatches that cross into being a medical device: the likely need for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. Once the FDA is involved, Apple’s release schedule would be shot, and details of a new Apple Watch would be leaked months in advance as it went through regulatory approval.
There’s a good chance we’ll see an Apple Watch Series 3 in the fall. It may still be too soon for the blood glucose monitor to be released, but it’s possible AAPL could introduce support for Apple Watch smart bands at that time. If so, new features like added battery life or advanced medical tracking could be just an add-on accessory away.
As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
