Building a health-tracking wearable would be a no-brainer for Amazon

making its own move in the space, Bloomberg reports, with a device that can discern the wearer's emotional state from the sound of his or her voice, among other things., like most tech companies, frequently tests ideas internally that never see the light of day.

But it's likely that Amazon will try, despite the competition and the challenges of developing new hardware. Here's why it's a no-brainer for the company.A wearable device would let Amazon collect new types of data about customers to target products and advertisements to them more effectively. Today, Amazon can theoretically collect lots of health data about its customers from their buying patterns. It sells over-the-counter medicines, glucometers and other health products via its marketplace. It could analyze dietary habits based on buying patterns at Whole Foods. And it has basic demographic information,But Amazon has no way to know about its users' habits once they stop shopping on Amazon or engaging with an Echo device.

Amazon's Alexa team recently announced that it is HIPAA-compliant, meaning it can work with health developers that manage protected health information. It would be natural to assume that doctors and therapists will someday be able to communicate with patients via Alexa,In a nutshell, that's because of privacy issues associated with a voice-activated device sitting in an open space.

Wearables such as wristwatches and earbuds don't have the same problem. Apple has repeatedly referred to its smartwatch as its

amzn ain’t buildin’ it if they can’t monetize it…why the hell do I want amazon tracking me for anything…

Indeed

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Comcast is working on an Amazon Echo competitor to track people's healthComcast is working on a device like the Amazon Echo or Google Home, but with a focus on monitoring health at home, and aims to begin pilot-testing it later this year. HealthyReturns Xfinity comcast should carry the C.A.R.E channel the country is in chaos and that channel is awesome they play it at the VA. i heard it will be able to kill you if you don’t pay your cable bill First reaction is 'no thanks', second reaction is, wait, if this is part of a larger trend of people using information from the internet to care for themselves instead of submitting to the current health care machine, maybe it's a good thing.
Source: CNBC - 🏆 12. / 72 Read more »