The iWatch Will Not Be An iPhone On Your Wrist

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Screen Shot 2014-02-10 at 7.55.18 PM

For the iWatch, many expect Apple to unveil the next big thing, the true successor to the iPhone in the wearable age. But a new report citing “limited by direct knowledge of Apple’s plans for the iWatch” claims that Apple’s wristband will be a much simpler affair, more akin to a Nike Fuelband or a FitBit than the standalone “holy grail” device previous reports have indicated.

According to Brian Dolan of Mobihealthnews, there are over 200 people working on the iWatch, but the device is not a primary device: it tethers to your iPhone, but isn’t a wrist-mounted iPhone.

So what will it be? Largely, a health-tracking device, it sounds like:

A source tells us that the team Apple has assembled is intended to ensure that the health sensing capabilities of the device are efficacious. Some fitness tracking devices available today primarily give users feedback in the form of an arbitrary points system — like Nike Fuel. Apple will likely not do this, but instead focus on real metrics like calories. Having a team with such advanced pedigrees will help ensure Apple’s device is accurate. Don’t expect glucose sensing though.

In other words, the iWatch will measure more than steps, like the Nike Fuelband, but less than a serious medical device, which will allow it to escape FDA regulation. Supposedly, the iWatch will be less about cutting-edge tech than experience, something the current spectrum of fitness trackers desperately lack. Sounds like a good thing to me.

Source: Mobihealthnews

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