The company demonstrated the device called the Simband, which can measure health indicators like heart rate and blood pressure, at an event yesterday in San Francisco. The Internet-based data platform is designed to promote consumer wellness and create a pool of information for digital-health researchers, the Suwon, South Korea-based company said.
“This is the beginning of our journey, the beginning of our platform,” said Young Sohn, president and chief strategy officer of Device Solutions at Samsung. “What we need is a community of developers and disruptive technology players to work with us.”
Samsung, dominant in the maturing smartphone market, is now seeking to broaden its technology in wearable devices and is racing to put its stake in the ground in other new consumer technology areas like digital health. Global sales of smartwatches, glasses and medical products were about $10 billion last year and are forecast to triple by 2018, according to researcher IHS.
The wristband hardware platform would be open to other manufacturers to develop their own products, in the same way that chipmaker Intel Corp. (INTC) and software maker Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) provided components to companies like Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. in the PC industry. Samsung said it also would create a $50 million fund to support third-party development for the device.