Apple's much anticipated wearable, the Apple Watch had to cut down its highly advanced health functions due to technological and regulatory hurdles. The watch will not include popular features like measuring blood pressure, heart activity, stress levels among others.
According to reports, Apple had to shelve the health related apps, as the company's sensors didn't pass FDA approval. The company's executives had a meeting with FDA representatives, regarding the regulations surrounding a device that included a glucose monitor. The FDA stated that it wouldn’t need to regulate a glucose meter that monitored blood sugar to help a wearer better understand their nutrition, but the regulatory body will have to step in if the watch was marketed to diabetics.
Apple's engineers also found that dry skin, hairy arms and even how tightly the watch is worn can affect the results of the monitor, and they couldn't find a solution to the problem before the launch. The company had already delayed the Apple Watch due to these issues earlier.
The Apple Watch, due in April, will enter an already crowded wearable market, competing with products from Samsung, Sony, LG among others. The much anticipated watch is expected to sell more than 20 million units in the first year and will triple the revenues in the wearable industry.
The wearable will come with a few Apple-only features, including WatchKit development tools and Apple Pay integration. The Apple Watch will come in three variants with the standard one starting at $349 (Rs. 21,400 approx.) when it goes on sale, and the Luxury edition may be priced over $4,000 (Rs. 2.45 lakhs approx.).
Source: WSJ