14 DAY TRIAL // A new face has been added to the team of engineers working on the upcoming iWatch at Apple. His name is Alex Hsieh and he comes from Atlas Wearables, where he served as chief software engineer developing firmware code for devices that can track users’ physical activity.
Carrying out duties that can be compared to Apple’s own efforts with the HealthKit framework, Hsieh’s work revolved around APIs (application programming interface) that permit developers to integrate their apps with Atlas Wearables hardware.
Alex Hsieh is currently listed as Firmware Developer at Apple over on LinkedIn. His past stints are Lead Software Engineer at Atlas Wearables and Software Engineer at Maxim Integrated Products. He graduated from The Johns Hopkins University and the International School Of Beijing.
Apple itself plans to do the same thing with its Health app in iOS 8, and the functionality is said to be extended to the iWatch when it’s released later this year.
For almost a year now Apple has been on a hiring spree recruiting talents in industries like wearables, medical, fitness, and even fashion, giving us a good idea of what the iWatch will probably look like and how it will work.
A wrist-worn device packed to the brim with sensors, iWatch will reportedly gather the most important health & fitness data and send it to the Health app where it can be viewed comprehensively by the user.
Users will be able to send this data over to their physicians, essentially eliminating the need to move between clinics with a physical folder in their hand carrying their medical charts.
The Health app even includes an Emergency Card where the user’s medical history and other information (like people to contact in case of a stroke) can be found. There are various rumors that iWatch will be an expensive commodity, but such talks are currently unfounded.
iWatch will reportedly integrate tightly with iOS on iPhone and iPad, allowing users to interact with some functions right on their wrists, such as SMS, email, and perhaps even phone/video calls.
The wearable device itself will run a stripped-down version of iOS. Some graphics artists have tried to picture the software running on a wrist-worn device, but none of the concepts seems to make much sense from a usability standpoint.
Some believe the iWatch will look a lot like the Nike Fuelband, featuring a curved screen that goes around the wrist. Others say it will look a lot like a regular watch, sporting a round face.