With satellite, does Apple Watch gain health-focused GenAI?
Imagine the biometric health data gathered by your Apple Watch about you became an asset that was continuously monitored by a health-focused AI? Imagine that automated advisor could give you warning when you displayed signs of sickness, and signpost you towards healthier choice?
Or that if you got lost, were someone who might become lost, or had a fall, your Apple Watch could let someone know of your plight even if you left your phone at home? Or just the simple feature of sending messages via satellite.
What if?…
Some of these features may already be available but news Apple intends putting its own home-baked 5G communications modem inside future iterations of the wearable Apple device suggests more features and facilities will eventually arrive on that device – the text-based messaging discussed in the latest report may yet turn out to be the thin end of a much more interesting wedge.
This particular fun begins with next year’s Apple Watch Ultra, which Bloomberg claims will introduce support for satellite messaging. At the risk of over-using the words, it seems inevitable those high-end Ultra features will eventually percolate through across the Apple Watch range, because they always do.
It makes sense to link emergency messaging via satellite to the high end watch – it is after all sold as the “ultimate” watch for sport and adventure seekers, and being able to get help in dangerous situations seems a pretty good slice of joined up thinking.
It’s also true to consider that those who are most inspired to exercise and the great outdoors will be among the first people to adopt any connected wellness features Apple may also be cooking up in its top secret (except for Mark Gurman) labs.
A bird in the sky
This is unlikely to be the only satellite-related product enhancement we can expect from Apple in the coming year. The company recently invested $1.5 billion more in its satellite partner, GlobalStar, taking a 20% stake in the company.
That kind of money would not be placed on the table for anything other than a larger plan. Satellite calling via iPhone really can’t be too far away – but what about cloud-based, supremely private and secure, AI-driven personal services? Health technology seems a good place to start and builds on Apple’s existing strengths.
Of course, sparking speculation of this kind is a hit and miss affair at the best of times, but it’s hard not to throw Apple’s existing services into the air and see how they might fall through a filter of always-connected, private and secure AI on wearable devices. And health seems a low-hanging fruit to such thoughts.
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