Tim Cook Hints at New Health Product 'Adjacent' to the Watch

Speaking to the Telegraph today, on the future of Apple Watch, Tim Cook said that Apple is averse to subjecting the company’s Watch to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due to the tedious process that would hold back Apple from innovating at the rate they would like.

We don’t want to put the watch through the Food and Drug Administration process. I wouldn’t mind putting something adjacent to the watch through it, but not the watch, because it would hold us back from innovating too much, the cycles are too long,” he said. “But you can begin to envision other things that might be adjacent to it — maybe an app, maybe something else.

How about a smart scale then? I’ve argued about the potential of a smart scale in the past, and I’m still hoping Apple does something about it. Today, the Watch is great at gathering information, but it doesn’t give me a deep understanding of what effect it’s having on my body. A scale could potentially solve that as I wrote many months back.

With the scale I currently use, I can essentially measure what all my exercise activity means for me and my body, beyond just the physical benefits I feel. For some, that gauge is probably more than sufficient. But I’m more interested in specifics. With a smart scale, I can see if my weight is going up or down. I can see where my BMI level is — whether I’m getting leaner or packing on excess fat. Adding the scale essentially completes the equation. Apple Watch + Health app + Smart Scale = my overall basic health state. It’s amazing.

Interestingly, there are scales on the market that are FDA approved. Check out this iHealth scale.

Want the whole family to stay fit and track their body composition? Not a problem because this smart scale can support up to 20 users. Now everyone can create their own goals and manage their weight data on their personal mobile devices. In addition, this scale is also FDA approved and CE compliant.

Will Apple ever consider making one of these? Who knows? Many people have pushed back on the idea, but I still think there’s as tremendous opportunity here.

Or maybe it’s a smart band…