Newsletter
Google I/O 2014 is shaping up to be a wealth of new information with lots of exciting things to be potentially covered. There’s already been reports that Google has plans to show off, and talk about Android Wear with the LG G Watch and the Moto 360, and we’ll likely be learning more about Google Glass as well. The latest report from Forbes though suggests that we’ll be seeing Google launch something directly related to health with a new service called Google Fit. This will be Google’s attempt at aggregating users health related data to be presumably relayed back to them on various devices, which could include Android Wear and Android powered devices as well.
Google apparently plans to take their new service focused on health and turn it into a complete ecosystem, with the ability to have the aggregated data shared between devices easily. If Google plans to unveil partnerships with OEMs that produce wearable devices that could mean that we’ll see the capability for other wearables beyond Android Wear products to include Google Fit services as well. Health and health related data is another one of those areas where Google has steered clear so far, while many other OEMs have already began integrating services into their devices that can measure and collect data like steps counted, heart rate, and even body temperature through various sensors.
How Google plans to feed health data back to users and make it something beneficial and a service that people will want to use will be the interesting thing to see. With the growing number of wearables and fitness trackers coming to market it’s clear that now perhaps consumers are ready to interact with devices that can deliver this type of data to them for numerous reasons, and Google has obviously taken notice of that. If Google Fit turns out to be similar to what we’ve seen from the likes of Samsung, Apple and others, how will they plan to set themselves apart and bring something to the table that will grab users away from the competition? Forbes also points out that Google plans to allow cloud based interaction for the aggregated health data that Google Fit grabs from users, so maybe their planning to allow some sort of integration with Drive?