š©ŗ HealthTech: A $313 Bn Opportunity for Apple?!
Apple has ambitious plans for healthcare. But there are several roadblocks ahead. Will ambition win or will this be Appleās greatest failure?
āHealthcare will be Appleās greatest contribution to mankindā - Tim Cook.
Looks like the Apple CEOās statement is finally coming true.
Some little birdies have whispered to Bloomberg that Apple could revolutionise the lives of diabetes patients.
It has made significant headway in figuring out how to measure blood glucose without pricking your skin.
Woah, how? And why is Apple so into the healthcare space?
ReadOn.
š”Appleās Health Play: The PotentialĀ
Apple entered the healthcare space in 2014 with its Health app.
In 2015, it launched the Apple Watch with health tracking features.
It hasnāt looked back since then.
It came, it saw, and it wants to conquer this space. Why?
For starters, the healthcare market is huge. Global healthcare spends touched $9 trillion in 2022 (11% of the global GDP)!Ā
The biggest spender on healthcare? America.Ā
Appleās biggest market? America.Ā
So, the move makes sense.Ā
In numbers, this space alone could generate an additional $313 billion in revenue by 2027 for Apple (according to a Morgan Stanley report)! This is just a little less than Appleās 2022 revenue of $394.4 bn.
With the right tech and funds under its sleeve, Apple can make healthcare more accessible and affordable (we highly doubt this!).Ā
Why just use the worldās best minds to make devices when they can do so much more for mankind?Ā
Maybe a service play like health tech is Appleās mind stone that can truly make it inevitable.Ā
š§ Appleās Health Play: The Plan
Apple is a true innovator. Be it devices or music, it changes the face of the industry it steps in.Ā
It now wants to change the face of the healthcare industry. How?
Well, it wants us to actively track our health and prevent illnesses.Ā
Today, we only visit the doctor after we fall sick.Ā
In India, only 29%, 15%, and 33% of breast, lung, and cervical cancers are diagnosed in stages 1 and 2, respectively.
What if we actively track our health and detect complications before itās too late?
Exactly what Apple is trying to do.Ā
In fact, the stage for the current no-prick diabetes device (which uses lasers to detect your blood glucose) was set back in 2010 when Apple acquired glucose monitoring company RareLight.
Apple is definitely a visionary. But it has to face many hurdles before it can reach the top.
š¤ Appleās Health Play: The Challenges/Problems
The idea to create a no-prick glucose testing device is not new. In fact, Apple itself had thought of such a device earlier: The Apple Contact Lens, which would measure glucose through tears.
Thatās the thing with such ideas: they are too complex. And the human brain does not understand complex stuff.
Plus, anything to do with health is super sensitive.Ā
Building trust is hard. Retaining that trust is harder.Ā
According to a Sony survey, only 28% of people would trust a consumer device like an Apple Watch to monitor their chronic conditions.
Next comes one of the major concerns with anything tech: data privacy.
In Apple's dreams of dominating the healthcare sector, data privacy could be the buzz-kill.
Data collected by companies for economic gain can also be sold to other companies.Ā
If the data collected by your Apple Watch becomes crucial for health decisions, there will be a lot of healthcare companies running after it.
Health insurance companies will know that you run the risk of diabetes and therefore, will try to push their insurance plans onto you.
At the same time, pharmaceutical companies will know whom to target as potential consumers of their vitamin supplements.
Imagine a company tracking exactly what makes your heart beat faster, how much sleep you're getting, and what medicines you're taking. And then selling this information to someone else who will use it to manipulate your decision-making!
Feels like a violation? It is.
The space is difficult to crack.Ā
Probably this is why Appleās healthcare plans have not taken off so far.
It had launched a subscription-based personalized healthcare program for employees, which tanked.
But Apple isnāt giving up yet. It has invested $100 bn in this space in the last 5 years.
It is also reportedly studying how its products can help detect cognitive decline, anxiety, and other mental health ailments.
It is also allegedly planning to launch a health insurance product in 2024.
How it will work around the data privacy issues will be something to closely watch out for.Ā
Does the key to a better healthcare system lie with the big tech? Or is the solution someplace else?
Only time will tell.
Till then, ReadOn.
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See you tomorrow, smarty! š¤
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Healthcare is a way different habitat for a Tech company to involve in. Apple was successful enough in entering the healthcare market, but to make it big in this sector, they have to go a long way.
One extreme example of a Tech company that failed miserably was Theranos which I read about the other day.