Apple may well make a stand-alone health-tracking device to sit alongside the Apple Watch.
That’s according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has been in the UK recently talking up the iPad Pro.
In addition to speaking about Apple’s recently launched super-sized tablet, Cook has also addressed the company’s plans in the health market. It seems they won’t involved the Apple Watch, as was previously intended.
“We don’t want to put the watch through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) process,” he told The Telegraph. Cook is here referencing the fact that any device with serious health-related features needs to be approved by US regulators.
This obviously doesn’t play well with a popular consumer electronics device that needs to be released on a regular, yearly upgrade cycle. It was widely rumoured that the Apple Watch had its health-tracking capabilities scaled back prior to launch, and this could be why.
Related: 10 Best Fitness Trackers and Activity Trackers
However, that’s not to say that Apple isn’t thinking about releasing a health-based device.
“I wouldn’t mind putting something adjacent to the watch through it (the FDA), but not the Watch, because it would hold us back from innovating too much, the cycles are too long,” said Cook. “But you can begin to envision other things that might be adjacent to it – maybe an app, maybe something else.”
Is Apple building a dedicated fitness wearable to take on the Fitbit crowd? It sounds plausible.
Next, watch us put the Apple Watch through its paces on the streets of London:
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
