The world’s largest mobile technology firms including Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics Co and Google Inc are looking for non-invasive ways to monitor blood sugar levels, reports Reuters.
According to Reuters, the technology firms are searching for applications that could turn “nascent wearable technology like smartwatches and bracelets from curiosities into must-have items”.
“These firms are variously hiring medical scientists and engineers, asking U.S. regulators about oversight and developing glucose-measuring features in future wearable devices” said Reuters quoting sources said.
According to research firm GlobalData, the global blood-sugar tracking market will be worth over $12 billion by 2017. Diabetes afflicts 29 million Americans and costs the economy some $245 billion in 2012, a 41 percent rise in five years with many diabetics pricking their fingers daily to check their glucose levels.
“All the biggies want glucose on their phone,” said John Smith, former chief scientific officer of Johnson & Johnson’s LifeScan, which makes blood glucose monitoring supplies. “Get it right, and there’s an enormous payoff.”
Reuters reports that the tech companies are likely to start off focusing on non-medical applications, such as fitness and education.
Apple, Google, Samsung vie to bring health apps to wearables [Reuters]
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