There was an exciting new announcement today from Google Cloud Platform and Fitbit. The fitness wearable company is not only moving to GCP as their preferred cloud platform provider, but they will also be taking advantage of the Google Cloud Healthcare API.
The Cloud Healthcare API… “provide an interoperability solution that enables their users to collaborate on care with their own healthcare providers.” This could be a big deal as there have been some 76 million Fitbit devices sold and some 25 million active users.
Why this is a big deal is because of the potential of the API. Fitbit could quickly position themselves as a universal device to collect & send (with your permission of course) vital information collected on the device to your healthcare provider. This, in turn, could help with earlier diagnosis of things like blood pressure problems, heart disease and even diabetes. We are still a bit away from that of course but the Cloud Healthcare API, along with Google AI running in GCP would go a long way in making this happen.
To this point, Apple with the Apple Watch have been the forerunner in providing healthcare information to providers. That however has challenges as an Apple Watch only works on iOS. Fitbit works on Android and iOS which could, in theory, allow it to be more universally usable.
We are still years away from fully realizing the potential of this agreement between Fitbit and Google Cloud Platform but the prospects are exciting.
