Jawbone may be known better for its stylish Bluetooth headsets and the portable speaker called the Jambox but it is now moving into its first non-audio product called UP, a wearable health monitor with a wrist sensor.
The company is looking to branch out into personal wireless electronics and the Jawbone UP is the first of the range of health related gadgets that they are offering. The simple wrist worn sensor is like a bracelet that allows you to keep tabs on movement and sleep patterns. Then an ‘app’ allows you to make and monitor your lifestyle improvements.
The portable health monitor is not yet available for sale but prices for the bracelet device should be available by end of the year. Wrist worn sensors are not new with Basis having a Pulse Tracer that monitors heart rate, temperature and skin response. An MIT variation called Affectiva allows the wearer to measure stress, relaxation and arousal.
It makes it easier for the device to be accepted into lifestyle of a person if it is wrist worn as people are already used to wearing wrist watches. What is difficult is to make the device compact and accurate, but many companies are researching this problem.
CEO Hosain Rahman said at the launch that while it seemed like a big departure from what the company currently did, once they started talking about the things to make this product category work, such as size, battery life, making it fashionable, making it waterproof, working with smart phones, having a rich, visual experience on your smart phone and making it social, they realised this is all stuff they did already with their existing audio devices, so it seemed an obvious addition to their product line.
“We’re passionate about creating products for the mobile lifestyle that people love to use everyday. And now, we’re harnessing that passion to approach a major global issue – health,” Rahman said. “We are focused on creating a highly accessible solution for this particular space that integrates seamlessly into a user’s daily life with the goal of making it absolutely easy for them to live better.