Recently, Fitbit has indeed experienced a difficult time, and I think that if Fitbit wants to really understand the future of wearable devices and biometrics, this is a necessary process. This theory is not only applicable to Fitbit, but also to the whole wearable device industry. This is a game about waiting and development.
You see, some people may have seen that the wearable device market seems to be saturated at present. Some companies have decided to launch, while others have just begun to step in. With the miniaturization of hardware, wearable devices and facilities are becoming more fashionable and intelligent, but the internal sensors are still stagnating. This is what we need to enable sensor technology to evolve from 1.0 to 2.0, and we look forward to a comprehensive breakthrough.
From simple health indicator monitoring to broader health data, wearable technology will develop greatly. We have seen some encouraging signs: in recent products, Jiaming and Fitbit have begun to pay attention to the change of heart rate, which is an important indicator to measure a person’s overall health and stress level. At the same time, the analysis of data has become more in-depth and insightful. But at present, the best technology has not yet arrived.
Recently, we saw such news that Fitbit will completely change the previous sensor technology on the unpublished smart watch. Yes, it is red light. As the experts explained to us, red light will play a very important role in tracking pulse and blood oxygen content. So far, most of the green light used on wearable devices is green light, and the green light presentation is not uniform in accuracy, so the types of biological data that can be read are relatively limited. The introduction of red light will become a new growth point. For example, the measurement of blood oxygen content can measure the oxygen saturation of the body (it should be noted that the maximum oxygen content is not the maximum oxygen content, but the maximum oxygen consumption). It can remind us of breathing and other life-threatening problems.
In other aspects, the Bsx sports team believes that LVL technology can be used for water replenishment tracking. Of course, it is a little regrettable that the actual application of this technology has been postponed to 2018. Although water content detection is very important for exercise and sleep, it has not appeared in the field of wearable devices, and we are looking forward to its arrival.
Fitbit’s progress in sleep tracking also gives users more reasons to focus on what sports trackers can bring. James Park, chief executive officer of Fitbit, said that the company was seeking to solve the problems of hypertension, arrhythmia and sleep apnea. You should know that about one-third of Americans have high blood pressure. Imagine that if blood pressure can be measured at any time only through a simple wearable device, there is no need for the uncomfortable blood pressure tester. Ranndy Kellogg, CEO of OMRON medical, said that he believes that wearable blood pressure meters with commercial feasibility, whether using Doppler or optical methods, will come to us in 2 to 5 years.
Then there is non-invasive blood glucose monitoring, one of the final goals of the formal health tracking field (yes, there are several others). At present, technology companies are trying their best to find a solution, although at present, it is still very far away from us. It is reported that apple is already developing this product, and researchers at Seoul University in South Korea have also found a way to estimate blood sugar content by testing skin sweat.
According to the documents recently exposed by jawbone, the company is also developing the above-mentioned technologies, including a wearable device that can simultaneously measure blood pressure, skin reaction, respiration and skin temperature. And the other one based on T-stat oximeter can detect the symptoms of sudden heart disease. At present, jawbone believes that although it is unlikely to achieve this goal recently, there will be a way to achieve this goal in the future.
In fact, everything will come sooner or later. It is all a matter of time. For wearable devices, if the sensor technology can be improved, the medical care industry that can realize self-monitoring will usher in an explosive whole in the integration of miniaturized health sensors, wearable device technology and more effective machine learning technology.
At present, the entire wearable device industry is on the edge of a cliff, and companies like Fitbit need to withstand the impact of this storm. In the field of wearable devices, technology is a game that will never stop. Moore’s law can affect the development of the industry more than any other field. As long as the sensor technology can continue to develop, the wearable device 2.0 era will be in front of us.