Healthbook: Apples „Zero-Setup-Plattform“ für Gesundheitsapps?

Es lohnt sich genau anzuschauen, wie Apple und Google neue Plattformen, aktuell Wearables und speziell Smartwatches, angehen und wie sie planen, diese zu etablieren. Nicht nur die bereits etablierten Betriebssysteme, die natürlich eine bequeme Startposition ermöglichen, sondern auch und vor allem das Verständnis der Netzwerkdynamiken von Plattformen sind es, die Apple und Google auszeichnen.

Benedict Evans schreibt über die mögliche Healthbook-App von Apple, über die gerade Gerüchte kursieren:

Suppose, for the sake of argument, that Apple does indeed plan a health app that’s card-based, somewhat like Passbook. What would happen when you buy and turn on a blood pressure monitor that is certified for ‚Healthbook‘? Well, one would expect that Apple would use the Bluetooth LE auto discovery that’s already in iOS7 to detect it automatically and tell you. And then, suppose it offers to install the Healthbook card to manage it (either from iTunes or from the device itself) – an HTML/Javascript package that runs in the Healthbook sandbox in some way. Suppose it does the same for any sensor you might buy? Then Apple has created a zero-setup platform for personal health devices. No apps, no native code, no app store, no configuration at all.

This would be one answer to why Apple’s recent hires of ‚wearables experts‘ sound a bit like a team for a hospital device rather than a watch, measuring various quite technical things – because Apple plans to enable such devices, not try to pack every single one into its own device. That is, the straightforward sensors should live in the phone (like the pedometer that’s already in the iPhone 5S) and the complex and demanding ones should be enabled by an Apple platform, not become part of an Apple device.

Mit der Ausbreitung in Autos, in Wearables, in TV-Geräte verändert sich die Natur von iOS und Android. Ihre Lebensphase als reine Smartphone-Betriebssysteme endet 2014.