Apple adds more fuel to digital health device rumours

According to Taiwan’s Economic Daily News, tech giant Apple may be planning a “killer new product” for the healthcare sector.

The paper claims that the rumoured device could launch next year as part of the tenth anniversary of the iPhone.

The article also suggests that the device may gather data on heart rate, pulse, and blood sugar using pressure sensing technology.

What’s more, the firm has reportedly acquired personal health data startup Gliimpse, according to Fast Company.

Gliimpse is the firm behind a ‘personal health data platform’ that lets the user collect, personalise, and share their health data.

Whilst this acquisition allegedly took place some months ago, Apple has been characteristically tight lipped on the matter, but Fast Company says the tech giant has now confirmed the deal.

According to the site, Apple gave the following short statement: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

Apple has sparked rumours in the past that it may be looking to delve further into the medical and healthcare arena.

Late last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook told The Telegraph that while he wouldn’t be putting Apple Watch forward for FDA approval, he would consider putting “something adjacent” forward to the regulatory body.

“We don’t want to put the watch through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) process.

“I wouldn’t mind putting something adjacent to the watch through it, but not the watch, because it would hold us back from innovating too much, the cycles are too long.

“But you can begin to envision other things that might be adjacent to it — maybe an app, maybe something else.”

Recent appointments at the firm also point to a growing interest in healthcare.

Hires include Anne Shelchuk, formerly of ultrasound company Zonare; Craig Slyfield, an expert on human bone 3D visualisation; and from the wearables field, Jay Mung, who previously researched sensor algorithms for Medtronic’s continuous glucose monitoring system.

And earlier in 2016, Apple posted four new jobs on its website, with the successful applicants required to work in ‘health technology’.

The roles consisted of two engineers, a project manager and an R&D technician.

Any prospective biomedical studies engineer was required to offer “design and execution of human user studies for providing reliable, revealing data for evaluating feasibility of health, wellness, and fitness sensors, systems, and applications” according to the job posting.

The group has already made a significant impact on the healthcare sector with the launches of ResearchKit and CareKit - mobile platforms for patient monitoring and life science research.