Microsoft is debuting a healthcare platform to rival Apple's HealthKit and Google's Android Fit called Microsoft Health, reflecting the software titan's biggest push uet into the hot market of mobile healthcare services and devices.
Along with the new healthcare data sharing platform, Microsoft also announced a new wearable called Microsoft Band.
"Within health and fitness, there is rapid innovation occurring around wearable devices with smart sensors that are telling us more about our lives," said the company in a statement. "A vibrant marketplace of devices and services is giving us access to a wealth of data about our nutrition, health and fitness. We see an opportunity to bring these devices and services together to allow you to combine the information they collect and use the power of the cloud to turn that data in to something more valuable."
Microsoft Health is cloud based and designed to bring all of a user's health data into one place, regardless of whether or not they use the Microsoft Band. Eventually the platform will work with devices such as Jawbone's UP, MyFitnessPal, RunKeeper and so on.
Interestingly enough, it seems as though Microsoft plans on using Microsoft Band as a mobile payments platform. The company has partnered with Starbucks to allow people to load their Starbucks cards right on the device. The band, which costs $199, will be available online and in Microsoft stores starting Oct. 30.
The services core lies in the cloud-based "intelligence engine," which uses data to calculate things like which exercises burn the most calories, how much recovery time is needed after each workout, and how much sleep a user had that was restful or restless.
The company also plans to let third-party apps be a part of Microsoft Health.
"For new entrants and startups we have a complete offering that includes our app, and APIs as well as cloud storage for their data," continued the company in its statement.
"Existing services can upload their data to Microsoft Health and take advantage of our advanced algorithms and the powerful machine learning from our Intelligence Engine to give their customers insights. New devices can license our 10 wrist-worn sensor modules to gather robust data, including active heart rate, sleep and GPS."
The Microsoft Band is splash- and dust-resistant and has a total of 10 sensors, including GPS, heart rate, skin temperature, UV and more. Not only that, but it also displays notifications such as calls, texts, emails and social. It also provides direct access to digital assistant Cortana, meaning that users won't have to take their phones out of their pockets to ask Cortana a question.
