Apple to bear a long-awaited fruit of healthcare

Now that groundwork is on its way to completion, Apple is ready for 'so what' of digital healthcare

Compared to any players in the digital healthcare industry, Apple, a semi-empire with 1 billion user base worldwide, perhaps took the most powerful shot. It brought the whole package: wearable and mobile devices, data platform, number of users, and, now, its ability to interface with medical providers.

This package was prepared gradually, starting with the launch of iPhone in 2007. Through the series of new launches, Apple carefully played its digital healthcare moves that focused not only on advantageously positioning itself, but also on effectively lowering the threat of entry within the industry.

In 2014, Apple released a health app. This built-in app served to hold users’ health and activity data, by having users to either input manually or integrate with other devices. Then in 2015, Apple Watch was introduced, ending Apple’s reliance on third party devices for data collection. Rather, Apple boosted the user experience by crafting a seamless flow of users’ vital sign or activity data between iPhone and Apple Watch.

As if to solidify the barrier of entry, Apple took a leap in 2018 with its introduction of Apple Health Records. The data stored on health app were no longer limited to user-generated data - health records from medical providers, those data users were not so familiar hosting on their personal devices, were now available. This breakthrough once again signaled immense possibilities that no other players have brought thus far: healthcare happening anywhere and anytime as long as users are connected via their iPhones.

As of now, we are not seeing the impact at its fullest. To Apple, the current priority is to perform due diligence: partnering with medical providers, expanding health records features globally, and navigating through ‘so what’ of this enablement. When the ground work is completed and dots are connected, we may then get to see the full scope of digital healthcare wave that Apple is driving, perhaps too powerful for any players to compete against.