It will launch the service at the Google I/O conference for developers, being held on June 25 and 26.
Google’s I/O conference is being held for developers on June 25 and 26 and we know what we are all getting ourselves into. From what we are hearing from a couple of sources, Google has some plans to introduce the new health service called Google Fit which is going to collect and aggregate data from popular fitness trackers and health-related apps. With this new effort, Google certainly wants to answer back to Apple’s HealthKit framework which was launched only last week and is going to make its debut alongside the iOS 8.
Looks like these health apps and services are becoming the new trend and considering this we might agree that Google is on the right tracks. Last month Samsung also unveiled Sami which is a biometric data platform for collecting health information from devices and apps too. Google Fit on the other hand is going to aggregate data with the help of instruction sets known as APIs which allow apps to share information. Along with this, Google will also take advantage of the I/O conference to announce partnerships with wearable device makers.
A source had claimed that Google Fit is going to make use of a wearbale device. This particular device is going to measure data like steps or heart rate to interface with Google’s cloud-based services, and become part of the Google Fit ecosystem. We haven’t received any other information on what kind of wearable these are going to be. And at this moment this is also not clear whether this health service is going to come along with the new version of Android. It might also come as a standalone app which users will be able to download independently.
Though Google has remained mum on what it is going to reveal at the conference, we have still figured out that it has arranged for several developer sessions where it is going to talk about Google Fit. On Day 1 of the conference, there is going to be an entire session dedicated to “wearable computing with Google” followed by “designing for wearables,” and then the broader “Android and cloud” session on Day 2.
According to sources, developing health related platforms has been quite laborious for both Google and Apple but this is not the first time Google is entering this platform. It has worked previously on Google Health which was like a Health portal but unfortunately it didn’t quite work out and was shut down in 2012.
“Google Health never took off because consumers actually don’t want to aggregate their data,” says Derek Newell, CEO of digital health care platform Jiff. “They haven’t wanted to. What they want is information. They want meaning, rewards and a feedback loop.”
source: forbes