September 12, 2013 1:45
pm
FT.com
By Tim Bradshaw in San
Francisco
A week after Samsung unveiled its
pioneering Galaxy Gear smartwatch, Apple has launched a “wearable device” of
its own: the iPhone 5s.
A fingerprint reader and industry-first
64-bit processor featured in the latest incarnation of Apple’s flagship
smartphone received most of the attention from
pundits after Tuesday’s press event. Less noted, but just as significant to Apple’s
longer-term innovation, was the inclusion of a new chip that is dedicated to
monitoring the motion sensors built into the phone.
The M7 chip, which runs alongside the
new iPhone’s main A7 processor, opens up opportunities for developers of
health-monitoring gadgets and apps, as well as other connected devices. It also
paves the way for Apple’s own iWatch, a wearable fitness tracker and smartphone
accessory that is likely to be released next year.
“It means you can have more powerful
wearable devices and the phone itself becomes a lot more sensitive to tracking
its environment,” says Sarah Rotman Epps, mobile analyst at Forrester Research.
“The M7 enhances the iPhone’s core capabilities, and also makes it a better hub
for wearable accessories, whether they are made by Apple or anyone else.”
For several years, PCs and mobile
devices have included chips dedicated to processing graphics, enabling smoother
rendering of games and video while freeing the computer’s main “heart” for
other tasks. On a similar principle, the M7 is a “motion coprocessor”, said
Phil Schiller, Apple’s marketing chief, that “continually measures the data”
coming from the iPhone’s gyroscope, accelerometer and compass “without having
to wake up the A7 chip”.
Apple also unveiled a “Core Motion”
software interface, which developers can tap to tell in an instant whether the
phone – and by extension the person whose pocket it is in – is stationary,
walking, running or driving.
“With new software and applications
you’re going to get a whole new level of health and fitness solutions never
before possible on a mobile phone,” Mr Schiller said on stage on Tuesday.
This threatens to turn wearable devices that simply count steps or track workouts, such as the
FitBit or Jawbone’s Up, into mere apps on a phone, some analysts say. Others
point out that it could equally enable these companies to create more
sophisticated gadgets, like Samsung’s Galaxy Gear.
Nike, from whom Apple recently poached
a technology executive, is among the first to create a fitness app using Core
Motion, called Nike+ Move.
But as well as enabling external
developers, Apple itself envisages a bright future for the M7. The same
technology will lie at the heart of its iWatch, according to one person
familiar with Apple’s thinking.
Apple does not comment on future
products, but such an approach to the development of iWatch would be consistent
with the way it has worked in the past, analysts and a previous employee say.
“The M7 is an example of a clever way
to start learning about wearables and what consumers want, without getting them
to pay for [a dedicated device] right now,” says Carolina Milanesi, mobile
analyst at Gartner.
Just as the 64-bit A7 was the result of
Apple’s earlier chip designs, the M7 can act as “training wheels” for the
internal technology of the iWatch, suggests a former employee of Apple’s mobile
devices team.
Based on motion data collected from
real-world use of the iPhone 5s, most likely using its own employees as guinea
pigs, Apple will be able to optimise its designs for the iWatch – thus reducing
the risks inherent in introducing any new technology without large-scale public
testing.
By designing its own chips, Apple can
build hardware and software that work together better than any off-the-shelf
processor, says the former employee.
As well as health applications through
M7, the latest iPhones will create opportunities for interaction with other
smart devices close by, using enhanced Bluetooth technology. Analysts and
entrepreneurs say this short-range wireless technology is given a new lease of
life through Apple’s iBeacon software, part of the iOS 7 update that will be
available to all modern iPhones next week.
iBeacon allows iPhones to detect
proximity to other Bluetooth devices with greater precision and less battery
consumption than ever before. With certain peripheral devices, iBeacon will
allow GPS-style positioning inside shops, or detect when a person arrives at
home, which could be used to automatically trigger light switches or open
“smart” door locks.
“We’re experimenting with using
iBeacons to deliver unique content available only in-store, directly in front
of a product,” says Joel Blackmore, senior innovation manager at Somo, a mobile
marketing agency.
“The closer a shopper gets to a
product, more content is unlocked”, such as videos, vouchers or reviews, he
says.
As a result, says Dom Guinard,
co-founder of EVRYTHNG, which sells a technology platform for managing
connected products, iOS 7 and the latest iPhones could “truly ignite” the
long-promised “internet of things”.
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