Kaiser Permanente Bets on Watch Based Health Compliance

Some good stats about how such compliance sensors like  smart watches could be used in pharma.

Kaiser Permanente Bets on Smartwatches to Lower Costs
The Wall Street Journal
Agam Shah
January 9, 2020

Hospital management and health insurance company Kaiser Permanente is expanding a rehabilitation program in which patients recovering from a cardiac event wear smartwatches to confirm their adherence to prescribed exercise and medication regimens. More than 87% of approximately 2,300 patients enrolled in the eight-week program completed the course, versus less than 50% on average for the company's in-clinic rehab programs. The Samsung smartwatches remind patients to exercise or take prescribed medication, and a mobile app accessible through the device allows patients to report the type and duration of exercise and any symptoms they suffered. The company hopes the program will help it cut costs in areas like readmissions.  ...'

Requires subscripton:

New Apple Watch can do an ECG in 30 Seconds

Watched the detailed Apple presentation of this yesterday.  Amazing the whole thing can now be put into  a Watch and they claim the (one lead) ECG can be requested and be received in thirty seconds.    An AI analysis is said to do the analysis.  Can be recorded and sent to you doctor on a PDF file.    Some elements of 'diagnosis' are involved.   The watch is expense at $400 plus. See in Wired 'Apple Watch Could do more Harm than Good'   https://www.wired.com/story/ecg-apple-watch/     Some physicians at the presentation had similar objections.    ... 

Fashionable Contactless Payment

Interesting aspect, a sort of tagging, but with fashion it seems.

Timex's new watch collection includes contactless payment straps
Barclaycard's bPay contactless chips are hiding under the leather.  ....  " 

By Jamie Rigg, @jmerigg  in Engadget.

Smartwatches with Templates for Business

In CWorld:  Data and process focusing work?   A wearable advisory system.  How much different than an App on a smartphone?  To what degree does someone see a notification on a Smartphone, handsfree, as different from that on a Smartphone?  Am I wrong in seeing a watch as more directing than a phone with multiple Apps and uses?

" ... Salesforce has long been a proponent of wearable computing's enterprise potential, and on Tuesday it showed off five new Apple Watch apps created specifically for business users. All built by the company's partners on the Salesforce1 Platform using the Salesforce Wear toolkit, the new apps span a spectrum of purposes, including collaboration, scheduling and project management.  ... " 

Speak Without Speaking: SmartStones Delivers Prose

Startup Smartstones has come up with a means to associate a gesture with snippets of prose.  More here.  " ....  We just released our gesture-to-speech app, Smartstones :prose, and we'd love to know what you think of it. :prose lets you setup a list of words and phrases that you use regularly, associate each with a gesture like a tap or swipe, and it speaks it aloud in whatever language you like. We've also extended its capability for those with an Apple Watch to remotely push spoken messages to the tethered smartphone. ... " 

Apple Watch, iBeacons and Food Retail

In Progressive Grocer: 

" ... Grocery is probably not the prime retail channel to take advantage of a smartwatch’s capabilities. So should grocers prepare for this new era of shopping that the Apple Watch will usher in? At least one is. Marsh Supermarkets is extending the iBeacon experience beyond smartphones to the Apple Watch. The chain of 60 stores in the Midwest calls it the world’s first iBeacon-wearable integration at retail. The idea is to increase sales via personalized shopper engagements. For example, people might be reminded to check their shopping list app when arriving at the store, or to look for a certain obscure ingredient for a recipe they researched online last week.

Sounds impressive, and I wish Marsh good luck with it. Whether this new digital experience is viable for other food retailers remains to be seen. It obviously depends on having the cash to invest in the technology and, more importantly, having a critical mass of shoppers wearing a smartwatch when shopping. ... " 

TAG Heuer Competes with Apple Smart Watch

Not unexpected.  Apple will sell many watches because it is Apple.  Then  It comes down to what the user experience will be like, which is where Google can provide value.  Is it a techno fashion statement or a UX statement?

TAG Heuer to give Apple smartwatch competition 
According to consensus estimates, Apple is expected to sell more than 22 million units of its new smartwatch this year. Those projections may need to be adjusted, however, now that Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer has announced plans to team with Google and Intel to launch an Android-based timepiece this year. How will the entry of traditional watchmakers shape the future of the smartwatch market?  ... 

Taskwatch takes Wearables to Focus Workflow

Local firm Hipaax works with Samsung Wearables.  Love to see wearable ideas that link to enterprise applications.   This links people to focus on work process.We need more innovation in that area.   Like the broad idea, but will take some convincing and educating employees.  In BizJournals:

" ... A firm that got its start at the Mason Tech Center is collaborating with Samsung on its latest wearable tech products.

Hipaax, which creates productivity and collaboration technology, has been named a Silver Partner in the Samsung Enterprise Alliance Program. That means Hipaax's TaskWatch platform will be available across Samsung's global network of customers, carriers and partners.
"Our platform — that customers can configure to their changing workflow needs — will enable companies to mobilize their connected workforce like never before," founder and president Bharat Saini said.

TaskWatch improves a business's workflow through cloud-based computing and wearable devices including smartwatches, tablets and other monitors. It prioritizes tasks and can be constumized to work across a variety of industries, including healthcare, retail, hospitality, warehousing and construction. ... " 

See also HiPaax.    Via Stan Dyck.

Apple Watch And ResearchKit

RetailWire on the Apple Watch.   I watched part of the announcement.  I am not particularly interested in a watch that replaces or even augments some of the functionality of my smart phone. Another device to deal with.  Was struck by its positioning as a technical mobile fashion statement, rather than producing real value.   Still, there will be many buyers, and those buyers will be people marketers will want to engage with.

More interesting is the announcement of the five initial Apps that are being delivered by Apple's  ResearchKit.    Adding the ability to do real time gathering of data for clinical health trials.    The potential for more data, and the required analytic methods are vast.   More will follow here.

Designing Wearables

On Wearable design. Do people have to re-learn how to wear, and utilize a watch.    Or has it become pure ornamentation for a few?

Wrist Smart Marketing

In Retailwire:  In-store broadcasting to Smart Watches.  More from InMarket.  I see they are looking at the behavioral interaction between shopper and wearable.  We were also most concerned with what the shopper really wanted in such communications.   We looked at smart displays, cart based devices, smartphones and even wearables before they were feasible.

" ...    Working with Los Angeles-based startup InMarket, Marsh installed beacons across its 75 stores. Shoppers who use Marsh's mobile app or one of the apps in inMarket's numerous applications will be able to decide if they want to receive push notifications on their Watch (when it arrives in March) or smartphone when they enter the store. InMarket's apps include LisEase, Key Ring, Epicurious and CheckPoints. The company's beacon platform reaches 18 percent of all U.S. mobile users, per comScore.

Marsh decides which apps are triggered by the beacons and customers are able to choose which apps work. If approved, a shopping list may pop up for a customer when they enter the store. Shoppers may also be pinged with recipe suggestions or offers in aisles. InMarket believes the Watch is more suitable for messaging than the smartphone. ... " 

Beaconing at Marsh Supermarkets

Continued indication that the interconnection of shoppers and physical spaces is progressing, this was reported on previously here in more detail, see tags below.  Note in particular the mention of a Watch.  Wearable solutions could make this a more convenient and natural interaction. The data gathered, linked with loyalty information, could provide further capabilities.

Marsh Supermarkets offers Beacon messaging to Apple Watch, smartphones 
Marsh Supermarkets has partnered with InMarket to install a Beacon messaging system that communicates with shoppers via the Apple Watch and smartphones to offer relevant content such as shopping lists, coupons and promotions when they walk in the door. The company has also integrated its customer service management software to track purchases matched with app usage to measure the sales impact of coupons, ads and even store layout. ... "

Apple Watch and Local Search

The emergence of the Apple Watch will likely start to popularize the use of watch displays by the public.  How will it influence location plays?  In Search Engine Watch:

" ...  Apple Watch will likely increase the number and frequency of hyper-local searches, making it even more important for businesses to ensure they can be found by consumers on the go.

What's more, per Apple, its WatchKit tool set means developers will "be able to easily create experiences designed specifically for Apple Watch," which, in turn, could also theoretically influence search and/or the interaction between businesses and consumers, depending what those developers cook up. ... "

Augmented Reality for Smart Watches

From press release today:  Implies the integration of a camera in a Smart watch and fast advanced image recognition.

 " .... , Metaio, today announced the first ever object recognition solution for smart watches. The technology company today released a video that demonstrates a computer vision-based health & lifestyle app for wearable devices implemented using Metaio technology.

Smart watch manufacturers are still struggling to find the balance between simplicity and functionality. By adding computer visual recognition functionality, the goal of fast and effective interaction with a smart watch is achieved.

Utilizing the camera of a smart watch, users snap an image which a companion smartphone then checks for matches using Metaio visual search technology. When a match is found, data is returned to the user in the form of glanceable information on the watch, or rich, interactive data on the smartphone.

“When we gave phones and glasses the ability to see the world around them, it opened up huge opportunities for all kinds of mobile apps”, said Metaio CEO, Dr. Thomas Alt. “We can see that smart watches are going be a huge part of the mobile computing revolution, so we wanted to make sure that we could bring the power of computer vision and augmented reality to this form factor.” ... '  

Smart Watch from Qualcomm

I have been watching companies like Qualcomm and their activities outside of the typical.    Posts on that here.  Now new report on their Smartwatch capability in Engadget.  (A promotional post, but it provides details of interest) " ... With the Qualcomm Toq, you can leave your smartphone in your pocket or purse. The Toq receives instant updates from your smartphone via Bluetooth wireless. With a flick of the wrist, the device displays notifications for calls, texts, email and more. Using Qualcomm's own AllJoyn technology, the Toq does run its own apps. But the smartwatch is meant to sync with Android smartphones and can be customized to display just the information you need. ... "   Still unclear if the Smartwatch will significantly erode smartphone use.  Also, how will this change the kinds of data gathered from held or worn devices?

Smartwatch for Corporate Productivity

Looking at the smartwatch format as improving corporate productivity.  Seems a stretch beyond the mild improvement in convenience in carrying the things around.    Worth thinking about to get ahead of the (big?) explosion in their demand.

More Devices on Order:Tablet, Glass, Watch?

In a spirited conversation with a colleague today.  On the eve of the delivery of the 'smart watch' device.   I was inspired by a current project that will look at how to deliver complex visual data for decision support on multiple devices, including a smart phone.

So will this project specification include the wrist device as well?  Or is the real estate on a watch just too small?  Can design overcome physical size.  Can an always attached device, like a Smart Watch or Google Glass, which can alert you at any time, overcome the physical size restrictions?

A company like Apple's involvement,  which can drive via perceived style rather than just need, could make these devices required rather than just an option.   The requirements are changing very quickly.

Samsung Smart Watch

I remain skeptical of the small format, but a Samsung Smart phone/watch is reportedly arriving in September. 

Emergence of the Smartwatch

In GigaOM:  A not unexpected development.  They have been around for years.  Now 2014 seems to be the year for broad delivery.  iWatch expected soon.  How will this influence the more personal vs business uses of the smartphone?  Will it have commercial uses despite the yet smaller screen?  In some of our own work we have seen a specification of  the delivery of Business Intelligence applications on the smartphone.  Will this lead to delivery on the watch as well?  How they will integrate well with other devices and tablets also remains to be seen.    What is the ideal number of devices we should have with us?

Apple Hires Luxury Brand CEO

What could this mean?     Speculation, but interesting connection: " ..... Apple has hired Paul Deneve, until Tuesday the CEO of French luxury brand Yves Saint Laurent, to work as its vice president for special projects, igniting fresh speculation about possible new product launches including a TV or wearable computing devices such as a smart watch ... "