At an event in San Francisco today, Apple announced it will turn the iPhone into a powerful tool for medical research with the ResearchKit. The ResearchKit is an open source software framework designed to allow doctors and scientists to gather data more frequently and more accurately from participants using iPhone apps.
The apps available from today include those developed to help research diseases such as asthma, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Parkinson's disease.
"iOS apps already help millions of customers track and improve their health. With hundreds of millions of iPhones in use around the world, we saw an opportunity for Apple to have an even greater impact by empowering people to participate in and contribute to medical research," said Jeff Williams, Apple's senior vice-president of operations. "ResearchKit gives the scientific community access to a diverse, global population and more ways to collect data than ever before."
Apple Watch
Apple CEO Tim Cook explained the much-anticipated Apple Watch will be available in three collections: Sport, Standard and Edition. The Edition range will be 18-karat gold and start off at $10 000 while the aluminium Sport will start from $349. The watch will have 18 hours of battery life and uses a magnetic charger. It connects to the iPhone over Bluetooth, a range of about 9m.
The Apple Watch will allow users to make calls and use the Siri feature to call an Uber ride or check the weather. The company's mobile payment feature, Apple Pay, will be integrated into the watch as well.
Fitness features include reminders to start moving when the user has been sitting too long and a new workout app will be like "having a coach on your wrist", said Cook. A digital touch feature allows pictures to be drawn that will animate on a friend's Apple Watch.
Lightest and thinnest MacBook
Apple also unveiled a new MacBook at the event, a new notebook reinvented to deliver the thinnest and lightest Mac yet. It weighs 900g and is 13.1mm thin. It features a 12-inch Retina display screen and an Apple-designed full-size keyboard and new Force Touch keyboard. The notebook is available in gold, silver and space grey.
Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice-president of worldwide marketing, said the new MacBook features a breakthrough terraced battery design that is layered in individual sheets that are precisely contoured to fit the MacBook's sleek, curved enclosure. This means it has 35% more battery capacity, delivering all-day battery life, with up to nine hours of wireless Web browsing and up to 10 hours of iTunes movie playback.
HBO Now exclusively on Apple devices
A standalone streaming service from premium channel HBO will launch in April exclusively on Apple devices, in time for the season premiere of acclaimed series "Game of Thrones", the network said today. HBO Now will cost $14.99 per month and will include all past, present and future HBO programming plus the network's line-up of Hollywood movies, said HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler at the event.
HBO has been available only to customers with a pay-television subscription. The company now aims to reach people who have broadband access but don't want to pay for a traditional TV package of dozens of other channels.
The prices for HBO Now subscriptions, the Apple Watch and the new MacBook, and expected availability in SA, were not immediately available.
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