Apple debuts its smartwatch, ResearchKit

The much anticipated Apple Watch will soon be available.

Apple CEO Tim Cook demonstrated the highly-anticipated smartwatch in front of a crowd of tech reporters and bloggers in San Francisco at Apple’s “Spring Forward” event. “The Apple Watch is the most personal device we’ve ever created,” Cook told the audience. “It’s not just on you, it’s with you.”

The watch will be available starting April 24 with Apple taking preorders on April 10 with the basic model going for $349 and a gold version for $10,000.

Cook showed off the watch’s sleek style, ability to make and receive phone calls and emails and health features. The device includes a heart monitor and measures how long the wearer has been standing, sitting and getting exercise.

Apple Watch learns users’ activity and fitness levels and uses that information to improve measurement accuracy and personalized suggestions to meet all-day activity goals. It also measures all movement, offers encouragement and notifies the wearer when he or she has been inactive for a certain length of time.

The Apple Watch’s dial, or digital crown, can be turned to navigate the watch’s screen and zoom in and out. Users can also push down the digital crown to activate Siri, Apple’s voice-controlled personal assistant program.

Colin Gillis, director of researcher at brokerage firm BGC Partners, appearing on The Street, said the watch is the fastest product launch in Apple’s history. “It’s great to see them get into wearables” but, the question remains whether the device “will appeal to typical users not just first adopters.”

Apple also introduced ResearchKit, an open source software framework that makes it easy for researchers and developers to create apps that could simplify and improve the efficiency of medical studies.

In a video on the company’s website, several researchers shared their enthusiasm for the new offering. “All researchers want quantitated, objective data,” said Michael McConnell, MD, MSEE, of the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Methods for conducting research haven’t changed in decades, according to the video. ResearchKit offers a framework that enables medical researchers to more easily design apps for clinical studies and collect data more frequently.

With millions of people carrying an iPhone, “I can kick a survey out to patients every day or every week. It shows up on their phone and if that can improve their health and our ability to care for them then that’s a game changer,” said Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.  

Apple touts the app as one that will put people at the center of research, thereby changing research for every medical condition.

“Putting solutions in the hands of the patient--this is the answer,” said Schmitz. “This is exactly where medicine’s going. It has to.”