Samsung unveils open wearables platform for health applications

Samsung has unveiled an open platform for processing data from wearables for health purposes. The Korean company itself has developed a new health tracking bracelet, which, however, is only for testing purposes.

Samsung made the announcement at an event called Voice of the Body in the US city of San Francisco. The intention is that third parties can develop hardware and software that can use Samsung’s platform for deploying sensors for health applications.

Samsung showed a bracelet called Simband that can already be used on the platform, but this is a device for research and is not intended for sale, Cnet writes. The initiative comes from the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center, which has digital healthcare as one of its key research areas.

It is unclear how the platform compares to Samsung’s own Tizen operating system that forms the basis of the company’s new wearables. Google has the competing platform ‘Wear’ based on Android, but that is not directly aimed at healthcare. There are rumors that Apple will focus strongly on health with the next version of iOS and a wearable could also play a role here. This probably concerns the iWatch, which has been rumored for years. That iWatch would go around, just like the Moto 360, claims an analyst based on sources within Taiwanese manufacturers.