Is The HealthKit API The Last Product Vision Legacy Steve Jobs Left Apple Before His Death?
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs left this world far too early, and during his waning moments at the company he built into an empire, his declining health due to pancreatic cancer and subsequent complications was painfully obvious. Ironically enough, his final contribution to Apple and consumers around the world may not be one of the company's many physical products, but a HealthKit platform that could be integrated into future devices.
There's an interesting article in PCMag describing how several of Steve Jobs' creations were the result of his personal life experience -- in other words, if a product that fit his needs didn't exist or fell short of expectations, he'd build it and then sell the world on its benefits. It's out of that same desire and drive that Apple's HealthKit may have been born, stemming from a frustration that it's incredibly difficult for a person to monitor their health in real-time.
Apple's set of HealtKit APIs could change that. They could open the door for third-party developers to pair things like sensors and health-related wearables and apps to the iPhone. If different devices are written to the HealthKit API, the iPhone could pool together all the data inside an Apple-designed Health app and provide the kind of real-time assessment Steve Jobs may have envisioned.
This would evolve over time. At the beginning, privacy concerns would keep the data strictly bound to the iPhone, which could send the user alerts depending on their profile or desired goals. Maybe it detects you haven't exercised in a few days, or that your blood pressure's been high lately. Early warnings and reminders could give users a better chance at avoiding or managing health problems.
Down the road, this information might be shared with doctors through the cloud or some other mechanism. Whatever the game plan, there's tons of potential. Pulling it off won't be easy, and with Jobs gone, it will be up to Tim Cook and the rest of the high level decision makers at Apple to see what may have been their fallen hero's last contribution.
There's an interesting article in PCMag describing how several of Steve Jobs' creations were the result of his personal life experience -- in other words, if a product that fit his needs didn't exist or fell short of expectations, he'd build it and then sell the world on its benefits. It's out of that same desire and drive that Apple's HealthKit may have been born, stemming from a frustration that it's incredibly difficult for a person to monitor their health in real-time.
Apple's set of HealtKit APIs could change that. They could open the door for third-party developers to pair things like sensors and health-related wearables and apps to the iPhone. If different devices are written to the HealthKit API, the iPhone could pool together all the data inside an Apple-designed Health app and provide the kind of real-time assessment Steve Jobs may have envisioned.
This would evolve over time. At the beginning, privacy concerns would keep the data strictly bound to the iPhone, which could send the user alerts depending on their profile or desired goals. Maybe it detects you haven't exercised in a few days, or that your blood pressure's been high lately. Early warnings and reminders could give users a better chance at avoiding or managing health problems.
Down the road, this information might be shared with doctors through the cloud or some other mechanism. Whatever the game plan, there's tons of potential. Pulling it off won't be easy, and with Jobs gone, it will be up to Tim Cook and the rest of the high level decision makers at Apple to see what may have been their fallen hero's last contribution.
