Buzzfeed has noticed that Apple’s put out some job postings for people who know about biosensors and non-invasive measurements. Does that mean Apple is planning new products in the healthcare market? Yes. No. Maybe. (Pick one.)
CEO Tim Cook told the Telegraph late last year that he doesn’t want the Apple Watch to get so sophisticated that it draws the attention of the FDA because regulatory requirements would screw up his product cycles. He raised the possibility, though, that Apple might produce a regulated product that would connect to the Watch — one that might not be beholden to consumer electronic lifespans.
Because Apple is not in the MEMS sensor business and is unlikely to enter it, the biomedical engineers it’s hiring are most likely to do one of two things: help refine HealthKit/ResearchKit ecosystems, or help the hardware and software engineers understand the data that sensors generate. It’s becoming generally understood that the difference between an accurate device and an inaccurate one isn’t so much the sensor as the software around it, and understanding how the sensor output reflects the real world is key.
A new product? A better product? Infrastructure work, or R&D? Take a guess; it’s probably all of the above. But it’s clear that Apple’s interest in digital health continues unabated.
I’ll be really excited to see what they come out with. I know there are some seriously high-tech wearables coming out from other sites, so I’m sure Apple is playing catch up.