Re:Jawbone stops production of fitness trackers
by sanotehu on Saturday May 28, 2016 @07:48PM
(#11794103)
To answer your question about the difference between "clinical grade" and "consumer grade" hardware, consider [1] - where FitBit-measured heartrates differed from actual heartrates by about 30bpm. As a doctor I looked into getting a fitbit but realised they could not live up to the ideal of heartrate tracking that I wanted.
To be fair this is a hard problem. Even the pulse oximeters we use in our hospitals have a hard time picking up certain heart rhythms. The only way to be sure is to get an ECG done!
[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/12086337/Fitbit-h...
If you're not top 2 or 3 you're probably toast.
> Jawbone raised a new $165 million round of funding in January. The company's CEO Hosain Rahman told Tech Insider a few months ago that the company plans to use that money to develop clinical-grade fitness trackers.
If the financing is going to help them lead to a major pivot, that's great. I don't know what "clinical-grade fitness trackers", but if they want to redirect their resources and expertise towards a market where they can charge more for hardware, that'd be a smart move.
Maybe they can contribute to elder care somehow. Fall detection has been done, but how well? I always thought physiotherapy could be a decent use case. After a shoulder injury I remember being able to move my arm 10 degrees above parallel, then 15 degrees the next day, etc etc. Could have probably helped my therapist optimize treatments and physio routine while communicating this data over the internet. Maybe "e-physiotherapists" could be a thing.
Anyways I hope the company finds a better product/market fit, and survives long enough to do so.