Tag: wearable devices

Current consumer wearable technology is paving the way for future mhealth

| May 5, 2015

The wearables that people are now wearing are helping to direct the development of clinical devices.

Wearable technology has, quite suddenly, become very popular for use in the area of health and fitness tracking when it comes to consumer tech devices, and the mhealth industry is viewing this as a tremendous opportunity with regards to developing future clinical devices.

This could mean that wearables and smartphone apps, alike, could start to play an integral role in tomorrow’s health care.

Parks Associates research has indicated that about 30 percent of homes in the United States that have broadband connections already have some form of connected device that can be used for health purposes. It has also estimated that by the end of next year, there will be over 32 million American consumers who will be actively tracking their fitness and health either by way of wearable technology or another form of mobile device.

Equally, using wearable technology devices within the mobile health field has also been on the rise.

Wearable Technology - Health IndustryDirector of health and mobile product research at Parks Associates, Harry Wang, explained that as popular as wearables are becoming, they are also starting to stand out within the health and medical industries. These gadgets are being seen as a wonderful opportunity for mhealth uses, such as monitoring vital signs (like blood pressure or insulin levels), which can be very helpful for improving health care access and quality.

In an article that he wrote for the Digital Health News published by his firm, Wang explained that “the design trends for wearables in the medical field follow what is happening in the fitness area — they are becoming more discreet, with more user-centric designs and highly integrated functions.”

As consumers become more confident with their mobile devices, they are also starting to look to additional gadgets, such as those in the wearable technology category, to provide them with more practical and usable benefits. This opens up a world of opportunity for creating devices and supporting apps that will allow people to take greater control of their own wellness and to provide their doctors with additional data for a more accurate understanding of their overall condition, as opposed to what is exclusively available through a doctor’s appointment.

Apple Watch can be purchased only by way of reservations

| April 10, 2015

The Apple Store will not be selling these smartwatches directly to consumers, as many had expected.

An official announcement was recently made that revealed that people who had been hoping to make a direct purchase of the Apple Watch may be disappointed as the company will be using a reservation system instead of sending it out to the retail store shelves.

The smartwatches will not be making their way to the shelves of the Apple Store to be picked up by consumers.

Instead, the only thing that will be possible for consumers to make in-store will be to make reservations for the Apple Watch devices that they want. This will involve a unique reservation system that will open up on April 10. It will make it possible for customers to reserve the model that they want and then pick up the smartwatch device at the Apple Store of their choice once it becomes available on April 24.

The reservations for the Apple Watch need to be made with a representative of the company’s retail stores.

Apple - Apple WatchMaking the appointment gives consumers the opportunity to try out the smartwatch for themselves before they make the reservations to actually purchase one. While this may lead to disappointment for those who had hoped to make their purchase within the actual retail stores, the hope is that they will feel more confident in selecting the model that they want when they reserve it online, particularly after trying it out with a store rep.

Apple has made this decision to be able to ensure that they will have enough stock of the models that the customers want, when they begin their shipments. This way, shoppers won’t end up having to face letdowns when the model that they want goes out of stock in the retail stores where they want to buy them.

The Apple Watch reservation system will provide the company with the reaction time that is needed to ensure that it will be able to keep all of the stock dispatch issues sorted out. The pre-orders for the smartwatches will begin in the United States, as well as Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, and Japan.