In July we have seen confirmation that-
1.
Apple's rumored acquisition of
Gliimpse will go through,
most likely to augment HealthKit, CareKit, and ResearchKit with the company's 'personalized and shareable medical records' capabilities. Gliimpse specializes in diabetes and cancer, which represent two of the biggest health threats facing medicine.
2.
Nokia take their US$191M investment in
Withings even further with plans to significantly boost marketing, finance, sales and design staff by 100 (taking the existing ~200 headcount to ~300).
These IoT driven investments in digital health are timely, and from a wearable tech perspective will better position Apple and Nokia for the future given an expected
ramp up of biosensors into all manner of connected wristwear.
During my time leading the device intelligence group at Nokia I was a strong proponent of getting wearables (mostly connected wristwear) off of the drawing board and onto store shelves. Alas, that did not come to fruition but it's great to see that digital health as a key strategic investment area in the "new Nokia". I'm encouraged that the marriage can boost Withings
market share in wearables.