Apple Inc. is riding the high wave after the release of its latest smartphones, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The company reported a record-breaking earnings figure for the fourth quarter of 2014, amounting to a little over $18 billion. Now, the company is looking forward to the release of its upcoming Apple Watch, which is expected to be released sometime in March of this year.
But critics wonder whether the upcoming Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) device will amount to much in terms of sales, and, subsequently, whether Apple would be able to maintain its position in terms of excellent sales figure. If released next month, Apple would be the first company among all the tech giants to launch its smartwatch for public use. Hence, public demand for the new technology is unstudied and cannot be accurately estimated.
However, Apple has already showcased promising uses of its upcoming piece of wearable technology, especially in the healthcare industry. The company recently released a trial version of its healthcare tool for wearable devices, called HealthKit.
According to reports, HealthKit would be pre-installed in the upcoming Apple Watch, and would allow users to monitor their pulse, blood pressure, and body temperature, among other health indicators, and provide guidance towards the best possible course of action in that respect.
Apple HealthKit is perhaps more useful to healthcare professionals than regular consumers that don’t work in the healthcare industry. People who work at hospitals require instant diagnostic information of their patients in order to formulate remedial solutions in the shortest possible time, and Apple HealthKit hence is the perfect tool for them.
And Apple Inc. has already stepped in the market with HealthKit. The healthcare industry is already catching up to the craze of using technology for instant diagnostic purposes, and developers at all the giant tech companies (Apple, Google, Samsung, etc.) are working day in day out trying to make the best fitness tool for clinical and personal use.
However, Apple seems to have emerged dominant in the industry yet again (after dominating the US market with its newest iPhones in terms of smartphone sales volume). According to reports, among all the companies that have launched beta versions of their healthcare tools in the healthcare industry, Apple’s HealthKit seems to have the most preference among healthcare professionals.
In a recent survey study conducted to assess the overall demand for health diagnostic tools in the healthcare industry, it was discovered that 14 out of the total 23 sampled hospitals and clinics preferred and were currently testing the use of Apple HealthKit, whereas the other 9 institutes chose alternative tools developed by Google and Samsung.
Google launched Google Fit to rival Apple HealthKit in the industry, and Samsung launched S Health as its version of a healthcare assistant tool. However, both these companies have failed to impress the majority of users, who have resorted to Apple HealthKit as their primary fitness tool.
However, the utility of these tools is still very trivial, and industry experts wonder whether Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) HealthKit would be able to generate a significant demand for itself. However, with Apple HealthKit showing impressive demand in the beta stage, the release of Apple Watch will surely drive demand up for the tool, and the presence of the tool in Apple Watch would surely drive up demand for the device.