The technologies Apple already has
First, think of the technologies Apple can already bring to a fitness band product. The sensors, algorithms, and software the company has already developed would certainly make sense in wristband form when used with a paired iPhone to review the data the band collects. Apple’s sensors have a good reputation for accuracy and could deliver outstanding battery life. They could carry a smaller display to show limited amounts of information, such as time or distance travelled. And I expect the company’s product design teams could build a high-quality health and fitness band with very little effort, as some of the key technologies to support such a device have already been tried and tested on Apple Watch.
Privacy as a product
The second reason is competitive. Apple knows that in Europe under the Digital Markets Act it will eventually be forced to give third-party devices, including fitness bands, peer access to the kind of data it already uses in the Apple Watch. The company has suggested a protected system in which that information is shared (once it has been cleaned up to protect customer privacy), but EU regulators have not yet agreed – and perhaps never will.
The problem at the moment is that Apple doesn’t make a fitness band other than Apple Watch. And there are enough Apple customers who use third-party bands that the company might see an opportunity to bring its own versionto market as a fitness band that doesn’t erode privacy. Ironically, EU competition regulators have given Apple a reason to compete for a market it didn’t originally want to get into — to the likely detriment of incumbents in the fitness band space.
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