Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is in the midst of readying their Healthkit mobile app for release with their upcoming iPhone 6 (and any other future iOS 8 devices), and envision it as a centralized hub where patients and health professionals would be able to store and access a wide range of health data gathered from all manner of sources, according to re/code.
“Apple is going into this space with a data play. They want to be a hub of health data,” Forrester Research’s health care analyst Skip Snow was quoted as saying.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has already forged partnerships with Nike, Mayo Clinic, and Epic, the latter of whom’s MyChart software is already used by many health care providers to store health data. It’s also rumored that Kaiser Permanente is in the process of testing out Healthkit, and will likely pursue a more formal partnership with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the near future.
“Apple has engaged with some of the most important players in this space. Platforms like HealthKit are infusing the market with a lot of new ideas and making it easier for creative people to build for health care,” Kaiser Permanente’s Brian Gardner was quoted as saying.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) does have to skirt some regulatory obstacles that may rear their heads in the near future, as health data tracking and sharing is understandably beset by privacy concerns. They’ll also have to figure out how to integrate with some health care providers’ decades old IT infrastructures.
HealthKit’s current beta build has been described as largely an empty shell that is waiting to be populated with data gathered both from upcoming Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s sensors and wearable devices, as well as the data gathered from other integrated sources, like Nike’s Fuelband (which is now discontinued).
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