A few months ago, word got out that Nike was significantly downsizing its FuelBand team. The company's CEO later confirmed the move, saying that it would be transitioning the focus of its FuelBand project from hardware to software.
The news sparked speculation that the strategy shift had something to do with Apple's rumored wearable, and today more fuel was added to that fire. Apparently the iPad-maker has added two ex-FuelBand engineers to its iWatch team...
Apple is believed to have an interesting pipeline of new products planned for the second half of this year, including new Macs, iPhones and its first wearable device. It has been speculated over the past several months that the company is gearing up to launch the so-called "iWatch" in the fall, a smart watch that will double as a health and fitness tracker for managing your heart rate, calories, blood glucose levels and more…
According to a source who spoke to MacRumors, Eric Winokur who does research at MIT's Medical Electronic Devices Realization Center will be joining Apple's wearables team in the coming weeks.
He's the latest in a string of high-profile hirings of experts with diverse interests in medical devices, sleep monitoring, wearable tech and fashion design.
This isn't talent Apple typically needs so these hirings serve as the strongest indication to date that the firm is assembling a star team to take on wearables.
And why precisely should you care about this particular hire? Read on as I lay out everything for you after the break...
Apple has added another prominent expert in the medial devices field to its internal team thought to have been tasked with the creation of an Apple-branded wearable device that the press refers to as the iWatch.
Divya Nag, “a rising star in the medical device community,”, has joined Apple's in-house medical technology team, according to sources with knowledge of the hire who spoke to one Apple blog on the condition of anonymity because Apple is not fond of leaks...
Earlier this month, we relayed reports asserting Apple may be looking to build its rumored wearable project, dubbed iWatch, in Switzerland. The iPhone maker reportedly created a company in the country for this purpose, prompting watchers to speculate that the iWatch could potentially carry the ‘Swiss Made’ label.
Sources claimed Apple had approached some of the world’s finest watchsmiths and attempted to poach talents employed by such watchmaking groups as LVMH.
The Financial Times is now corroborating these reports in a story Friday, writing that Apple's been courting high-level executives and craftsmen at Swiss watch brands to help build the iWatch, in one instance even attempting to recruit a horologists directly.
However, Swiss watchmakers have apparently rejected the possible iWatch project collaboration as they reportedly have no time to enter into any kind of partnership agreement with any of Silicon Valley's technology giants...
Apple's hiring spree of biosensor experts continues with the latest revelation pointing to another high-profile executive hire.
According to the newest scoop by NetworkWorld, the former chief technology officer of non-invasive patient monitoring company Cercacor, Marcelo Lamego, has joined Apple's iWatch team.
Apple has been hiring some of the world's top experts in sleep research, medical devices and biosensing, fueling speculation that its rumored wearable device will focus on health and fitness tracking...
Last night we passed along a report from The Wall Street Journal, which featured an interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook talking about the company's past, and its future. And one of the things he harped on was that it has some big things in the pipeline.
A quick look at the rumor mill tells you what some of those things could be: a bigger iPhone, a new Apple TV product, etc. But perhaps the most anticipated unreleased Apple product is the health-sensing, fitness tracking smartwatch known as the iWatch.
We've seen a lot of evidence that Apple is working on a new wearable device, but none of it is more telling than its recent string of medical and fitness expert hires. And 9to5Mac has put together an exhaustive list, detailing what each brings to the table...
A new job ad discovered on Apple's website Thursday has pretty much confirmed that the firm is working on and testing some kind of a health and fitness related wearable device. It's the first semi-official confirmation of the rumored iWatch project if I ever saw one. I'm not sure if this is an unintentional slip up and why Apple would want to make this particular call for job applicants public.
Regardless, it's now clear that Tim Cook & Co. have been staffing up with a lot of wearable experts from medical, fitness and biosensing fields. The job description mentions expertise in such health activities as cardiovascular fitness and energy expenditure, including “calories burned, metabolic rate, aerobic fitness level measurement/tracking” and more...
In another round of high-profile corporate hires, Apple has apparently poached a sleep research expert from the Dutch technology company Philips.
Specifically, Roy J.E.M Raymann used to lead sleep research at Philips Research, the company's research and development arm. Not anymore: it's now assumed he joined Apple's iWatch team.
According to a new report, this particular guy is experienced in wearables, sensors and non-pharmacological methods of improving sleep quality, an indication that Apple's rumored wearable project will be much, much more than a smartwatch...
If a new report by a very reliable blogger is anything to go by, Apple's rumored wearable project is seeking to mainstream medical sensor technology and health biosensing via monitoring your blood chemistry. Evidence proves that earlier this year the company poached two high-profile biosensor experts from medical devices firms.
These people, who joined the iWatch hardware team, bring expertise in mobile medical technologies focused on reading and analyzing blood and glucose levels via a potentially disruptive technology that uses a painless patch which works on the arm and doesn't require a needle.
Apple's interest in blood monitoring through skin is interesting in light of the rumored iWatch wearable device, even more so considering Google's latest initiative - Smart Contact Lenses that measure glucose levels in tears.
Furthermore, the iPhone maker is said to be "actively investigating" iris scanning technology. As we wrote before, Samsung is said to be exploring iris scanning for the upcoming Galaxy S5. This is your TL;DR version, the full analysis and detailed context continues...
Last month, news broke that Apple hired Adobe's former Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch as its new VP of technology, reporting directly to Bob Mansfield who heads the new Technologies unit combining Apple's wireless and semiconductor teams. iDB, along with many other news outlets, opined how out of character the hiring evidently was given Lynch's history of public criticism of Apple's stance on Flash. According to a new report, the ex-Adobe exec may now be a part of the engineering group that's been developing a rumored Apple smartwatch project...