There have been signs that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been building a team to work on the rumored iWatch for some time, and we now have a new one. 9to5 Mac spotted a job listing on Apple’s site for physiologists with expertise in health and fitness tests and data.
Apple seeks health specialists
According to the website, the listing said Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) needed people with expertise in running “user studies related to cardiovascular fitness and energy expenditure, including calories burned, metabolic rate, aerobic fitness level measurement / tracking and other key physiological measurements.” The job listing was for a “User Studies Exercise Physiologist.”
The company said prospective candidates for the position would need to have an understanding of how tools are used to measure and monitor physiological data and also experience in measuring how much energy people are using. The listing also said that the position would be used in the development of new products.
CNET noted that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) later removed that job listing, although it’s unclear whether the company already found the person it was seeking or if it just wanted to avoid some of the attention it received just by posting the job.
Apple’s iWatch expected to be a health and fitness product
It is widely expected that the iWatch Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been rumored to be working on for some time will have health and fitness uses. This week it was also reported that Apple hired renowned sleep research expert Roy J.E.M. Raymann, potentially to work on the device. Last week, it was reported that Apple also hired Michael O’Reilly, who had been chief medical officer and EVP of medical affairs at Masimo Corporation, a pulse oximeter company. Last month, the company also hired a pair of biosensor specialists.
It would seem that at this point, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) may just be filling out its iWatch team, as we’ve been hearing about possible hirings for the team for several months. As far back as July, we heard rumors about some big names going to Apple to potentially work on the iWatch. In August, we heard that Jay Blahnik, a key member of Nike’s FuelBand team, also went to Apple.
So will we finally see the iWatch this year?
It’s anyone’s guess whether the device will actually turn up or not, but the plethora of health and fitness experts Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has hired over the last year suggests that some sort of device is in the works. Most agree, however, that if Apple’s iWatch is going to be a success, then it must do something more than what’s on the market now.
