Apple positions itself as a leader in healthcare

The Future. Apple really wants the world to know that it’s a major player in health, releasing a hefty report detailing all the innovations and partnerships the tech giant has made in the space. But Apple also may be working hard to convince the market that it should be the preferred technology choice (instead of Google or Amazon) for any medical monitoring. And there’s a lot of money in being No.1.

Dr. Apple
Is the iPhone the new doctor’s office?

• The tech giant released an almost 60-page report touting its health applications, especially relating to features on the iPhone and Apple Watch.
• The report details how iOS devices offer health features that cover “17 areas of fitness and health” that can measure “150 types of health-related data.”
• Those features include sleep monitoring and atrial-fibrillation detection, with future features tackling blood-pressure monitoring and glucose monitoring.
• Apple also partners with several medical institutions and researchers to help with health-data collection and analysis.

According to COO Jeff Williams, who’s also in charge of all things health at Apple, “the health innovations we’ve pioneered have aimed to help break down barriers between users and their own everyday health data, between health care providers and patients, and between researchers and study participants.”

It’s that ability to control your health data and review it in real time that also, coincidentally, is a key sales driver for its product. Now that’s a healthy tradeoff.