The Apple Watch has found a surprisingly useful home
When the Apple Watch launched in 2015, it wasn't exactly clear who, or what, it was for. It was a phone accessory meant to curtail some of the notification anxiety the phones themselves had created by paring your digital life down to only the most essential disturbances. For many consumers, though, there wasn't a clear reason to keep wearing the watch after the initial sheen had worn off—unless they were fitness freaks, or overly concerned about their heart health. But a growing group of users have found them indispensable.
You might've noticed that the person who took your order at the bar, brought you the shoes you wanted to try on, or perhaps even patted you down at the airport security line, is sporting an Apple Watch, which starts at $329 for the newest Series 3 watch. And there's a pretty simple explanation: Many service-industry jobs where employees have to be on their feet all day don't allow workers to check their phones while they're on the clock. But that rule doesn't necessarily apply to a piece of unobtrusive jewelry that happens to let you text your friends and check the weather.
Quartz spoke with airline attendants, bartenders, waiters, baristas, shop owners, and (very politely) TSA employees who all said the same thing: The Apple Watch keeps them in touch when they can't be on their phones at work. Apple has increasingly been pushing the watch as a health device, and seems to have moved away from marketing it as one that offers more basic utility, as Apple continues do with the iPhone. But given that roughly 23% of the US labor force works in wholesale or retail operations, perhaps it's a market Apple should reconsider.
Related: Apple Watch Leads the Dying Smartwatch Market
FDA Approves First Medical Device Accessory for the Apple Watch
AliveCor Sensor for Apple Watch Could Detect Dangerous Levels of Potassium in the Blood
Apple Building its Own MicroLED Displays for Eventual Use in Apple Watch and Other Products
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Apple is the captain of a sinking ship:
Maybe not everyone is convinced they need a smartwatch? According to a new industry report from IDC out this morning, smartwatch shipments experienced "significant" declines in the third quarter, as total shipments were down 51.6 percent from the same time last year. Just 2.7 million units were shipped in Q3 2016 versus 5.6 million in Q3 2015. While IDC offers several explanations as to why sales are dropping – including issues related to launch timings, Android Wear delays, and more – the numbers still indicate how smartwatches are having a hard time finding traction among a majority of consumers.
Of course, we need to keep in mind that Apple Watch is the market leader among smartwatches – its Series One device accounted for the majority of shipments in the quarter (1.1 million units shipped, a 72 percent year-over-year decline). That means its ups and downs will have an outsize impact on the industry's numbers at large.
Another factor mentioned: potential Apple Watch customers may have been waiting for second generation version.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an EKG reader medical device accessory for the Apple Watch:
Up until now, AliveCor has used the KardiaMobile device, which was stuck to the back of your smartphone and paired with an app to detect abnormal heart rhythm and atrial fibrillation (AFib). The new Apple Watch accessory, Kardiaband, clicks into a slot on the Watch band to do the same thing.
However, rather than needing to hold your smartphone with both hands for 30 seconds to get a reading, you can get an EKG reading continuously and discreetly just by touching the band's integrated sensor.
[...] EKGs are usually only available in offices and hospitals — and only after a life-threatening event. Having one on your wrist that you can use to check your heart and then send a readout straight to your doctor is vital to prevention of a heart attack or stroke. And, as Gundotra also points out, "It's not possible to diagnose atrial fibrillation without FDA clearance. That is a big, big play."
It's worth noting Apple could easily replicate what AliveCor is doing. It has all the right equipment within the Apple Watch and the manpower to do so. However, it doesn't seem likely Apple would want to go through the hassle of FDA approval for the Watch, which is a general purpose device used for numerous other applications besides getting your heart rate.
Also at CNET and Fast Company.
Update: Apple launched a study to look for irregular heart rhythms on the Apple Watch (just as feared)
Previously: Apple Watch Could be Used to Detect Hypertension and Sleep Apnea
Apple Watch wristband sensor claims to detect potassium in your blood — without needles
The AliveCor KardiaBand, a sensor compatible with the Apple Watch, can detect dangerous levels of potassium in blood with 94 percent accuracy. Though the US Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved KardiaBand for this purpose, it's an interesting step forward considering that, right now, the condition is usually caught using invasive blood tests that use needles.
The KardiaBand by AliveCor is a sensor that snaps into a slot on the watchband. The user touches the sensor, which then takes a reading of the electrical activity of the heart, called an electrocardiogram (EKG). This reading can reveal abnormal heart rhythm and atrial fibrillation (AFib), and the sensor sends the information to an app. Yesterday, at the American College of Cardiology conference in Florida, AliveCor CEO Vic Gundotra presented research done with the Mayo Clinic showing that the same technology can detect too-high levels of potassium in the blood, called hyperkalemia. Hyperkalemia can be caused by, among other things, diabetes, dehydration, and chronic kidney disease. It can lead to kidney and heart failure and in general doesn't cause obvious symptoms — meaning you could have the condition and not know it.
[...] Some previous research [DOI: 10.1016/S0196-0644(05)81476-3] [DX] has suggested that EKGs may not be a good way to diagnose hyperkalemia, but, to be fair, that research was very limited and tested two human physicians. Another study suggested that EKG readings may not be sensitive enough [open, DOI: 10.2215/CJN.04611007] [DX] to catch everyone with hyperkalemia and that the condition doesn't always cause a different EKG reading.
Also at 9to5Mac.
Related: Apple's Watch Can Detect an Abnormal Heart Rhythm With 97% Accuracy, UCSF Study Says
Apple Watch Could be Used to Detect Hypertension and Sleep Apnea
FDA Approves First Medical Device Accessory for the Apple Watch
Inside Apple's Secret Plan to Develop and Build its Own Screens
Apple Inc. is designing and producing its own device displays for the first time, using a secret manufacturing facility near its California headquarters to make small numbers of the screens for testing purposes, according to people familiar with the situation.
The technology giant is making a significant investment in the development of next-generation MicroLED screens, say the people, who requested anonymity to discuss internal planning. MicroLED screens use different light-emitting compounds than the current OLED displays and promise to make future gadgets slimmer, brighter and less power-hungry.
The screens are far more difficult to produce than OLED displays, and the company almost killed the project a year or so ago, the people say. Engineers have since been making progress and the technology is now at an advanced stage, they say, though consumers will probably have to wait a few years before seeing the results.
[...] Right now smartphones and other gadgets essentially use off-the-shelf display technology. The Apple Watch screen is made by LG Display. Ditto for Google's larger Pixel phone. The iPhone X, Apple's first OLED phone, uses Samsung technology. Phone manufacturers tweak screens to their specifications, and Apple has for years calibrated iPhone screens for color accuracy. But this marks the first time Apple is designing screens end-to-end itself.
MicroLEDs could have several advantages over today's OLEDs:
microLED, also known as micro-LED, mLED or µLED, is an emerging flat panel display technology. As the name implies, microLED displays consist of arrays of microscopic LEDs forming the individual pixel elements. When compared to the widespread LCD technology, microLED displays offer better contrast, response times, and energy efficiency. [...] Unlike OLED, microLED is based on conventional GaN LED technology, which offers far higher total brightness than OLED produces, as much as 30 times, as well as higher efficiency in terms of lux/W. It also does not suffer from the shorter lifetimes of OLED.
Also at 9to5Mac.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @05:23AM (5 children)
'Ohhh, you work in the service industry.'
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @05:30AM (2 children)
Translation : you never bothered to take the time to acquire a marketable skill, so you're stuck doing a shit job.
The truth hurts, doesn't it.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @07:54AM
My middle daughter is a nurse and she has an Apple watch because she can't check her phone during her shifts. I dare you to tell her that she doesn't have a "marketable skill" right before she decides to give you a barbed catheter.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @12:27PM
I just met a young math major who got his Masters degree recently. He works in a grocery store. None the less, he is living his dream -- he and his brother are buying model trains as fast as they can afford and filling up a family barn (there may be family money involved, their grandfather is also a train collector). This wouldn't work for me, but they seem to be super happy. They are even buying large estate collections (5 figures) that would normally be purchased by a dealer and sold separately.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @01:55PM
as soon as the bean counters become aware that the iwatch is being used in this way, they will begin preventing employees from wearing one
even if they have to ban all watches including wind-up watches that do nothing but tell the time
it's about nothing more than draconian control of the working class
(Score: 2, Informative) by DuganCent on Wednesday May 23 2018, @06:00PM
I work in a hospital (pharmacy). You can get in a decent amount of trouble if you are caught checking your phone while around a patient or in the ED or trauma bays.
I can't take my phone in the sterile prep areas. I can wear my watch, though.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @05:57AM (2 children)
When one is "on the clock", the boss wants 100% of your time. He's gonna get pissed off if he sees you ignoring his customer while you fiddle with your watch.
I would not be surprised to see they clamp down on that, too, when enough people start fiddling with it when they are supposed to be doing something else.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 23 2018, @06:01AM (1 child)
Next step, they fiddle around with their brain-controlled EyePhones while on the clock.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @12:01PM
And after they are told they aren't allowed to do THAT, they will kill themselves because they are treated like machines instead of people.
But on the brighter side that would leave a job opening for a non-cell phone addicted old fart robot like myself.
(Score: 1, Troll) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday May 23 2018, @06:26AM (3 children)
They Found Me!
You Know: THEM!!!!
What Am I To Do? How Can I Escape?
Well I have a plan:
Today I powered off my iPhone.
Next week I'll buy an Android phone.
THEY will never find my Android phone!
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 23 2018, @06:32AM (2 children)
How's that? Are you going to wrap it in foil? Or take out the SIM card? Maybe smash it with a hammer?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @07:25AM
Hidden in a body cavity obviously.
What? You're the one who asked.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday May 23 2018, @09:47AM
All of those.
I Am Eternally In Your Debt.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Wednesday May 23 2018, @08:59AM (3 children)
I use a fitness tracker as a smart watch (regular smart watches are too big). Here are the two major reasons:
1. My phone is always on vibrate, and having my wrist vibrate helps me catch more calls/alerts than the phone in the pocket.
2. Similar to the article, I spend a lot of time in a cleanroom where the phone needs to stay inside my gown. I will read my watch when an alert comes in. This lets me treat my phone as a pager: If I'm getting a call I can call back from a house phone, if I'm getting a work email I can see the sender and call if I know something hot is going on, and if it is a personal email I can decide to take lunch and leave because I'm a terrible employee.
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Wednesday May 23 2018, @12:36PM (2 children)
Luckily, this would be once a month when you pre-arranged to be mailed at lunch time.
Is this also related to lunch time? Whatever you are cleaning in that room of your's may I suggest to do the cleaning first and then the touching of the phone?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 23 2018, @03:59PM (1 child)
I think you have no idea what a cleanroom is. Hint: Most people working there don't clean anything.
(Score: 2) by ilPapa on Wednesday May 23 2018, @08:23PM
Yes, and most people wearing "smart" watches aren't all that smart.
There's a certain symmetry to all this.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by janrinok on Wednesday May 23 2018, @11:17AM
If you want to know the time, why not just wear a watch? - you know, the thing that people were saying had no future.
Of course, if you actually do want to text some friends or keep a check on the latest trivia on MyFace then don't do it in the firm's time!