Apple Is Working On Preventive Healthcare Technology

We’ve known for a while that Apple is interested in the health technology sector. The Apple Watch is a prime example of that interest, where the device comes with several health monitoring tools such as a heart rate monitor and an ECG, both of which have managed to save multiple lives in the past.

However, Apple wants to explore more health technologies, more specifically, preventive ones. Speaking at a recent Q&A session with IDA Ireland CEO Martin Shanahan, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook was quoted as saying, “I think you can take that simple idea of having preventive things and find many more areas where technology intersects healthcare, and I think all of our lives would probably be better off for it.”

For those unfamiliar, preventive healthcare technology basically tries to detect a problem before it happens, as opposed to reacting to it when it does happen. For instance, Apple’s heart rate monitor could be considered preventive to a certain extent, as it informs users when it detects a heart rate that is abnormal, giving users time to seek medical help before it’s too late.

Cook adds, “Most of the money in healthcare goes to the cases that weren’t identified early enough. It will take some time but things that we are doing now – that I’m not going to talk about today – those give me a lot of cause for hope.”

Apple has also been rumored to be working on a non-invasive way of measuring glucose levels through the Apple Watch, although that has yet to be officially announced.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple
Tags: Health