Philips is launching a new suite of personal connected health devices, the company announced at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin last week. The announcement included not just the devices, but "health programs" encompassing the device, an app-based personalized program, and secure data analysis in the cloud.
"Imagine a future where individuals are enabled to measure multiple vital signs and educated to understand how lifestyle choices affect their body and their health," the company wrote in a post on Medium. "They set goals and monitor their progress, encouraged by intelligent and communal programs that are developed with leading doctors, psychologists, nutritionists and other experts who can respond to individuals’ progress and make personalized recommendations."
The suite will include a health-tracking smart watch with an optical heart rate sensor, accelerometer, and sleep tracking; a tubeless, rechargeable upper arm blood pressure monitor; a smaller rechargeable blood pressure monitor for the wrist; a body analysis scale that measures weight, estimates body fat, and calculates BMI; and an ear thermometer that returns results in two seconds.
All the devices use Bluetooth to send information to a single companion app, the Philips Healthsuite Health app. Philips hopes the platform, which is open for developers, will allow the health data collected to be used in a variety of ways.
"We are excited to see how developers, innovators and healthcare professionals will use the platform in future," the company wrote. "Maybe your medication will be synced with your agenda to ensure timely ordering of repeat prescriptions; or your health data will trigger your home shopping account to order certain beneficial foods and your Philips Connected multicooker will suggest the perfect recipes. It’s an exciting, and healthier, future."
A recent Reuters report suggests this is a significant undertaking for the company, which is moving away from its historic lighting business toward consumer healthcare as a more central part of its business.
The new suite of devices will become available in Germany next month, and are slated for other markets, including the United States, in 2016.
