By Aditi Pai, Jonah Comstock, & Brian Dolan
Mobile health has come a long way since the start of 2009 when Apple demonstrated on-stage at its World Wide Developer Conference how blood pressure monitors and blood glucose meters could connect to the iPhone 3G via cables or Bluetooth. MobiHealthNews has tracked health-related wearable devices from their infancy as research projects at university labs to the commercially available products they are today. The past three Consumer Electronics Shows, especially, have yielded a wide range of smartphone-enabled health and fitness devices, from smart forks to connected pulse oximeters and, of course, the numerous wearable activity trackers.
While it's not yet fair to say that every wearable health-related device connects to smartphones, almost all of them have companion smartphone apps that display data collected by the device. The smartphone is the hub device for today's wearable devices.
As we're almost halfway through 2013, it seemed like a good time to stop and take a look back at the rise of smartphone-enabled health and fitness devices over the course of the past five years. Below is a comprehensive, but admittedly not exhaustive, timeline of important events and news announcements related to smartphone-enabled health and fitness devices.
Smartphone-enabled health devices in 2009
February 6, 2009: iTMP announces the launch of its Smheart Link device, a "wireless bridge for biometrics" that connects off the shelf fitness sensors like heart rate straps to a user's iPhone. The device launches with a $155 pricepoint. Read More
March 17, 2009: At Apple's World Wide Developers Conference, just before showing off a connected blood pressure monitor, Scott Forstall, SVP of iPhone Software at Apple gushes: ”Now here’s a class [of services] that we think will be really interesting: medical devices.” Forstall explained that the new iPhone OS will allow application developers to sync medical devices like BP monitors via both Bluetooth and USB. “So imagine the possibilities,” Forstall continues. “We think this is profound.” An exec from J&J company LifeScan then shows off a prototype of a blood glucose meter that connects to the iPhone to feed data into a companion app. Read More
April 2, 2009: David Van Sickle, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholar in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, reveals that he is developing a GPS add-on for asthmatics’ 
inhalers to map where and when environmental exposures cause asthma symptoms. The venture soon takes on the name Asthmapolis. Read More
April 8, 2009: CellScope, in its earliest stages at UC Berkeley as a smartphone-enabled microscope with remote diagnosis potential, wins a Vodafone Americas Foundation award. Read More
July 16, 2009: Entra Health Systems announced its MyGlucoHealth Clinical Point-of-Care System, which is a clinic-based diabetic testing for in-patient care environments. The offering includes a cloud-based interface called Clinical Point-of-Care that works with the MyGlucoHealth meter to upload blood glucose tests and data through Bluetooth or USB to tablet computer, PC or compatible PDA device. Read More
September 30, 2009: French technology company Withings announces the US availability of its WiFi Body Scale that automatically records the user’s body weight, lean and fat mass, and calculated body mass index (BMI) to his/her secure webpage and/or free Withings iPhone application, WiScale. Read More
December 30, 2009: Australian mobile operator Telstra inks a deal with Entra to bring its smartphone-enabled diabetes system to that country. Read More
Smartphone-enabled health devices in 2010
April 7, 2010: Entra's MyGlucoHealth Diabetes App is now available on Nokia's app store, the Ovi Store. Read More
July 9, 2010: Salem, MA-based Agamatrix believes that its WaveSense Jazz meter could become the first medical device to connect directly to Apple’s iOS platform, which includes iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Why isn’t the WaveSense Jazz meter already sending data to the iPhone app? Agamatrix says its new USB download cable, which connects the meter to the iPhone, is currently pending FDA 510(k) review. Read More
September 21, 2010: French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Aventis announced that it has tapped medical device maker Agamatrix to create blood glucose meter plug-in for Apple’s iPhone called iBGStar. Read More
October 7, 2010: BodyMedia announces plans for its new Bluetooth-enabled FIT Armband BW to transmit activity and other biometric data to BodyMedia users' smartphones for the first time.
December 15, 2010: FDA clears Zephyr's smartphone-enabled system: Zephyr’s OmniSense Mobile Smartphone based solution serves a broad array of applications from remote patient monitoring to employee safety. Read More
December 27, 2010: BodyMedia inks a deal with Jenny Craig that sees the weight loss company equipping some of its premium members with the wearable tracking company's FIT device.
December 30, 2010: AliveCor's Dr. David Albert posts a video demo of his "iPhone ECG" device so a friend who couldn't make it an in-person demo at CES in Las Vegas the following month could check it out. The video goes viral and "Dr. Dave" ends up appearing on a number of talk shows and news programs as one of the breakout hits of CES that year. The device measures a single lead ECG from a custom iPhone case and transmits it via a mobile app on their iPhone. The case talks to the phone via a proprietary connectivity method. Video
Smartphone-enabled health devices in 2011
January 3, 2011: BodyMedia announces a deal with Sprint that will add cellular connectivity to an upcoming version of its FIT Armband. The focus is always-on connectivity for the wearable that will stream data to BodyMedia's Android apps.
January 4, 2011: iHealth Lab, a San Francisco-based subsidiary of Chinese medical company Andon Health, announces the iHealth Blood Pressure Monitoring System for iPhone. The offering includes a battery-powered hardware dock, blood pressure arm cuff and a corresponding app. The system works with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and looks to be the first FDA-cleared medical device to head to Apple Stores. Read More
January 5, 2011: France-based Withings announces the launch of its own blood pressure monitor for the iPhone. Read More
January 17, 2011: Dr. David Albert of AliveCor says that he has developed an Android version of its iPhoneECG device, too. Read More
January 20, 2011: The FDA clears the Withings iPhone blood pressure cuff as a Class II medical device. Read More
February 4, 2011: FDA clears the smartphone-enabled ultrasound probe system developed by Mobisante as a Class II device. The mobile ultrasound imaging system will cost between $7,000 and $8,000 in full, which includes a Toshiba Windows Mobile-powered smartphone, an ultrasound probe and the company’s software. Read More
June 23, 2011: Zephyr inks a deal with AT&T to add cellular connectivity to its remote monitoring offering. Read More
July 13, 2011: San Francisco-based Jawbone, a company best known for fashion-minded Bluetooth headsets and iPod speakers, makes its first foray into the activity tracking space with the launch of its UP device. Jawbone hasn't yet revealed pricing or official launch date, but it describes UP as an end-to-end system that "consists of a small wristband that monitors your activity 24/7, a mobile app that analyzes the activity, and an open platform that motivates you with personal and social recommendations and challenges tailored to your goals." Read More
July 14, 2011: Proteus Biomedical announces that it received a patent for its ingestible biomedical sensor — what the company has referred to as “intelligent medicine” in the past and what many have referred to as a “chip in a pill.” The sensor communicates through the person's body when it is swallowed and a patch on the patient's skin communicates the data to a companion smartphone app. Read More
September 26, 2011: Sleep monitoring and tracking company Zeo announces a new product, called Zeo Mobile, that enables users to capture data from their Zeo headband right to their smartphones -- no bedside display alarm clock needed. Read More
October 3, 2011: Fitbit launches its second generation activity tracker, Ultra, and its first iPhone app, which the wearable device does not connect to directly. Instead, the data is sent to Fitbit's online portal first via a wireless-enabled USB hub on the user's computer and the data is then updated for viewing via the app. Read More
October 10, 2011: Mobisante commercially launches its smartphone-enabled ultrasound system about eight months after securing FDA clearance. Read More
November 3, 2011: Jawbone commercially launches its first iteration of UP. Read More
November 9, 2011: Scanadu, a San Francisco-based startup that aims to develop a handheld smartphone-connected diagnostic device similar to the Star Trek tricorder, raises $2 million from a number of angel investors, including Playfish co-founder Sebastien De Halleux. Read More
November 23, 2011: Mountain View, California-based Glooko announces 
plans for a cord that will connect various off the shelf glucometers with the iPhone. The team includes a former Lifescan executive who led the J&J company's own iPhone-enabled glucose meter app initiative. Read More
December 7, 2011: The FDA clears AgaMatrix’s iPhone-enabled glucose meter iBGStar, which is codeveloped with French pharmaceutical company Sanofi. The companies began offering the device in Europe earlier this year. In Europe it is available in Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy. Read More
December 9, 2011: Jawbone announces that it will temporarily halt making its UP device because of issues with battery life and syncing with the device's companion smartphone app. Read More
Smartphone-enabled health devices in 2012
January 5, 2012: BodyMedia announces plans to offer a disposable, peel-and-stick, biometric patch developed in conjunction with medical device company Avery Dennison. The companies expect the device to be used in preliminary evaluations for weight management. Now known as the VUE patch, that product is still yet to be released commercially. Read More
January 13, 2012: UK-based retail pharmacy chain Lloyds pharmacy inks a deal with Proteus Biomedical to launch Proteus’ first commercial product, Helius, an offering that includes sensor-enabled pills, a peel-and-stick sensor patch worn on the body, and a mobile health app. The patch records when a pill is ingested, tracks sleep patterns, and records physical activity levels. Read More
January 19, 2012: Nike launches a wristworn activity tracker called The Nike+ FuelBand with a celebrity and professional athlete-filled press event. The device leverages just two sensors: the standard 3 axis accelerometer, which monitors activity, and an ambient light sensor that detects light levels in the user’s environment and automatically adjusts the brightness of the device’s display accordingly. The device’s display shows the time, Nike Fuel earned, calories burned, and steps taken. Read More
January 30, 2012: Glooko, which offers a simple glucose monitoring logbook app and a cable that connects meters to iPhones, raises $3.5 million in its first round of funding, led by The Social+Capital Partnership, and including return backers Bill Campbell, Vint Cerf, Judy Estrin and Andy Hertzfeld, Venky Harinarayan, Russell Hirsch and Xtreme Labs. The Social+Capital Partnership’s founder and managing partner, Chamath Palihapitiya, has joins Glooko’s board of directors, too. Read More
January 31, 2012: An iPhone app from McLean, Va.-based vendor Vignet, that controls wireless home health monitoring devices, becomes the first Apple iOS product to meet Continua Health Alliance interoperability standards for connecting to a wide range of medical devices. It is also the first software product of any kind to incorporate Continua guidelines for interoperability of mobile applications over wide-area networks. Read More
April 3, 2012: Germany-based Medisana announces the planned launch of ThermoDock, an iPhone-connected non-contact infrared thermometer, making it available for pre-order in the UK for about US $96. At the time, the device does not have FDA clearance. Read More
April 20, 2012: BodyMedia and Withings partner up to integrate weight data from Withings’ WiFi scale into BodyMedia users' online dashboards and apps. BodyMedia offers its own suite of connected fitness devices, but has not developed its own connected weight scale. At this time, Withings offers a WiFi scale, a connected blood pressure monitor, and a baby monitor device, but no fitness tracker. Read More
April 23, 2012: Connected fitness device maker Fitbit announces the commercial launch of its Aria WiFi Smart Scale. Like competitor Withings, Fitbit Aria recognizes up to eight different user profiles and automatically determines which user is on the scale based on previous usage. Read More
May 23, 2012: Wearable body monitor company BodyMedia raises an additional $9.3 million to complete a $12 million funding round. Newcomer Comcast Ventures leads the round, which also includes previous investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet, Draper Triangle Ventures, Ascension Health Ventures and InCube Ventures. Read More
May 30, 2012: Glooko, a mobile diabetes management startup, inks a deal with Roche Diabetes Care to extend the Glooko MeterSync to ACCU-CHEK meter users via an infrared data transfer adapter. The Glooko IR Adapter helps iPhone or iPod touch users who would like to more easily download blood glucose readings from their ACCU-CHEK meters to the Glooko Logbook app on their iOS device. Read More
June 11, 2012: Khosla Ventures invests $1 million in CellScope, an alum from Rock Health’s first class of startups in 2011. CellScope was developing smartphone peripheral devices designed for consumers to use for at-home diagnosis, starting with a smartphone-enabled otoscope that would enable physicians to remotely diagnose ear infections in children. Read More
June 27, 2012: Glooko officially launches its MeterSync Cable and its companion Logbook app in Europe, which means iPhone users in European countries can now connect a handful of some of the most popular glucose meters to their phones to automatically upload data to a logbook app on the devices. Read More
July 2, 2012: Asthmapolis receives FDA 510(k) clearance for its asthma sensor and companion software. The company’s device is a sensor that sits atop (most) inhalers used by patients who have asthma or COPD. The sensor transmits data to a companion app on the user’s mobile phone every time the inhaler is used. The app can then track the time and location of each medication discharge, which can then be used to help patients and their care givers better understand their asthma triggers. Read More
July 9, 2012: iHealth Lab, a subsidiary of China-based Andon Health, receives 510(k) clearance from the FDA for a wrist-worn, Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure monitor called the iHealth BP7 Wireless Blood Pressure Wrist Monitor that connects with iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch devices. Read More
July 27, 2012: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based EyeNetra, which is developing what it calls the most affordable mobile eye diagnostic tool ever developed, raises $1 million of a hoped for $1.2 million round of funding from two undisclosed investors. The company’s peripheral device and software enables anyone to take their own eye test, get a prescription for glasses, and connect to eye-care providers right from their mobile phone. Read More
July 30, 2012: Proteus Digital Health, formerly known as Proteus Biomedical, becomes the first company to receive FDA clearance for an ingestible biomedical sensor that monitors medication adherence. The FDA grants 510(k) premarket approval to the Proteus Ingestible Event Marker (IEM) as a de novo medical device, meaning that there is no similar product on the market, four years after Redwood City, Calif.-based Proteus first sought clearance. Read More
August 13, 2012: Target begins to stock mobile health coaching devices from SmartCoach on its store shelves. SmartCoach is a wearable mobile health device that aims to differentiate itself with a coaching service that not only tracks activity levels but also monitors progress and encourages users’ success. Read More
September 17, 2012: San Francisco-based Fitbit launches two new activity tracking devices: the Fitbit Zip and the Fitbit One, which both connect directly to smartphones via Bluetooth Smart. Legacy Fitbit devices only uploaded information to the Fitbit portal and app when the wearer was nearby a wireless-enabled hub that plugged into the user’s computer via USB, and the new Fitbit devices offer this too for users that do not use Bluetooth Smart compatible devices. Read More
September 27, 2012: Glooko announces an updated version of the Glooko Logbook app and support for an additional six blood glucose meters. The Glooko meter can now connect 17 different meters to iOS devices with its $40 Glooko MeterSync Cable. The newly supported meters include two new meters from Walmart: the ReliOn Confirm and ReliOn Prime. Read More
October 25, 2012: Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston conducts a clinical trial of wearable health monitoring devices from Zephyr Technology to monitor pregnant women as they give birth, with plans to quickly roll the system out to a hospital in Uganda in an effort to stem high infant mortality. Zephyr's BioHarness and ZephryLife monitoring system measure movement, respiratory rate, heart rhythm and other vital signs to help health workers identify conditions such as arrhythmia, pressure ulcers and potential falls early. Read More
November 13, 2012: Jawbone announces the re-launch of UP, a durable, water-resistant bracelet that feeds a companion app with sleep and activity data. The company had previously halted production and offered a voluntary refund on the buggy first-generation units. Read More
November 14, 2012: Misfit Wearables soft-launches a simple, all-metal, activity tracker called Shine through crowdfunding platform Indiegogo. The shine will sync with users' phones via a proprietary wireless data transfer protocol. As of now, the Shine is scheduled to ship to Indiegogo backers in July 2013. Read More
November 13, 2012: A Beijing-based medical device company called Raiing is granted 510(k) FDA clearance for the Raiing Wireless Thermometer, a peel-and-stick contact thermometer sensor that continuously transmits body temperature readings to a companion iPhone app. Read More
November 29, 2012: Scanadu unveils prototypes of its first three products: The Scanadu Scout, its core tricorder offering, the ScanaFlo urine analyzer and the ScanaFlu influenza test. Read More
December 3, 2012: The FDA grants a 510(k) Class II clearance to San Francisco-based AliveCor’s iPhone-enabled heart monitor, which has been commonly known as the “iPhoneECG” since it first made an appearance at CES in 2010. The company only secures clearance for prescription use, and makes the device available for doctors to preorder. Read More
December 13, 2012: Masimo, a medical device maker founded in 1989, releeases a commercially-available iOS-enabled pulse oximeter called the iSpO2. The company opts not to go for FDA clearance, saying the device is intended for use by climbers and pilots, not in medical situations. Read More
Smartphone-enabled health devices in 2013
Jan 7, 2013: Fitbit unveils a new Bluetooth Smart-enabled, wrist-worn activity tracker, called Fitbit Flex. Like most of Fitbit’s other trackers, the Flex also promises to help users track their sleep health if worn at night. The Flex, which is priced at $99.95 for preorders and begin shipping this spring, is the first wrist-worn device from the company. Read More
January 7, 2013: Withings, the “smart” health device company that began offering a wireless weight scale in 2009 and a wireless blood-pressure monitor in 2011, announces the Withings Smart Activity Tracker. Read More
January 7, 2013: At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, BodyMedia announces the Core 2 Armband, a smaller, more streamlined version of the company’s wearable tracker. Read More
January 7, 2013: iHealth Labs, a California-based subsidiary of China’s Andon Health announces it is expanding its line of iOS-enabled wireless health peripherals. The company adds a wireless blood glucometer and a wireless pulse oximeter to their product offerings, though FDA clearance is still pending for both devices. Read More
January 7, 2013: Health devices are everywhere at CES in Las Vegas, including PerformTek's iriver, a fitness sensor-laden Bluetooth headset; Spree, an activity tracking headband; the Fitbug Orb; the Fitlinxx Pebble; Zensorium's Tinke pulse oximeter; Basis Band; GeoPalz family activity tracker and companion app; and Interaxon Muse, a smartphone-connected brainwave scanner. Read More
January 8, 2013: Beam Technologies, of Louisville, Ky., begins selling its manual brush with embedded brushing sensor and Bluetooth radio, for $49.99. A free companion app for Android or Apple iOS tracks brushing habits, including frequency and duration, as well as time spent in each quadrant of the mouth. Users sync data to the smartphone app by pushing a button on the brush handle. Read More
January 22, 2013: The iExaminer System from Welch Allyn, an iPhone app and peripheral device that allows doctors to use the iPhone camera to take photographs of the interior surface of the eye receives 510(k) FDA clearance. It builds on the company’s existing PanOptic Opthalmoscope, a device that lets a physician see into the back of a patient’s eye. Read More
January 24, 2013: Misfit Wearable’s two month campaign for the activity monitoring device closes with about $846,000 raised from almost 8,000 people from 64 countries and all 50 states. Read More
February 4, 2013: Jawbone acquires mobile health startup Massive Health and design firm Visere for an undisclosed sum to help it refine and improve its own wearable health device, UP. Read More
February 12, 2013: Fitbit announces wireless syncing capabilities with Android. The Android app syncs Fitbit One and Zip stats to the Samsung Galaxy SIII and Note II. Read More
February 14, 2013: A new ECG device for the iPhone 4s called ECG Check recieves over-the-counter clearance from the FDA. The device, which would be the first product from Park City, Utah-based Cardiac Designs, appears very similar to the AliveCor Heart Monitor, which is currently only cleared for prescription use. Read More
March 4, 2013: Johnson & Johnson company LifeScan announces the launch of a Bluetooth-enabled glucose meter and companion iPhone app similar to the one the company showed off on-stage at an Apple World Wide Developer’s Conference in 2009 for the launch of iPhone 3.0. Read More
March 12, 2013: A WellPoint health plan in Florida, called Amerigroup Florida, announces that it will offer Asthmapolis’ FDA-cleared mobile health device and service to its members with asthma. Asthmapolis’ device is a sensor that sits atop (most) inhalers used by patients who have asthma or COPD. The sensor transmits data to a companion app on the user’s mobile phone every time the inhaler is used. Read More
March 12, 2013: MobiHealthNews breaks the news that sleep company Zeo shuts down. The Better Business Bureau lists Zeo as being “out of business” and Zeo CEO Dave Dickinson participates in an online TEDMED event as the company’s “former CEO”. It’s clear that Zeo as we knew it is over. Read More
March 19, 2013: Three subcommittees in the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce devoted three days of hearings to the FDA's regulation of mobile medical apps and smartphone-enabled medical devices. One of the contentions raised ahead of the hearings, which was one reason the hearings were held in the first place, was that the FDA might begin regulating consumers' smartphones as medical devices since they had medical apps on them. Some legislatures told talking heads on the cable news networks that this would result in the price of the iPhone going up because designating mobile phones as medical devices carried a new tax under the health reform legislation. Apart from a number of humorous conversations between digital health industry folks and members of congress over regulatory minutia, like when a wireless-enabled weight scale become a medical device, not much was accomplished during the hearings. It did, however, drum up interest in mobile health. Read More
March 20, 2013: Jawbone UP introduces an Android companion app for its wristworn tracker and also launches the UP in Europe, with Asia, Australia, and the Middle East to come. Read More
March 27, 2013: Scripps Health cardiologist Dr. Eric Topol shows off some smartphone-connected health devices, including CellScope and AliveCor, on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." It's the latest in a slew of mainstream media features on digital health, including Rock Center with Brian Williams and CNN's "The Next List." Read More
April 10, 2013: Dublin, Ireland-based Zinc Software announces a seed round of about $850,000 (€650,000) in funding from Kernel Capital, AIB Seed Capital Fund, and Enterprise Ireland. Zinc is developing wearable health sensors, including the Zen Sensor, which clips to a user’s ear lobe to collect heart rate data. Zinc also announces that it entered product development and supply chain management company PCH International’s accelerator program. Read More
April 11, 2013: Redmond, Washington-based Mobisante announces the launch of a tablet-enabled version of its portable ultrasound system, which received FDA 510(k) clearance in early 2011. The tablet version of the offering enables physicians to use more powerful ultrasound probes and, of course, brings a larger screen for review of high-resolution ultrasound imaging. Read More
April 17, 2013: Kinsa Health, a thermometer that connects to a smartphone via the headphone jack launches on Indiegogo. By using the phone’s battery and electronics, the company claims it has been able to build an accurate digital thermometer with a low price point — possibly even cheaper than non-connected digital thermometers are today. Read More
April 18, 2013: At TEDMED, Dr. Ramesh Raskar, leader of the The MIT Media Lab’s Camera Culture Group, announces (and demoes) the lab’s newest project, eyeMITRA. The new device isn’t a snap-on camera lens like the lab’s last two inventions, but instead a pair of smart glasses that displays a realtime image of the wearer’s fundus. Read More
April 18, 2013: Beirut, Lebanon-based startup Instabeat builds heads up heart rate tracker for swimmers. The company has has been in development for two years, appearing at events like TED and CES. It launches a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to go into production mode and promises to sync the device to smartphones if it hits $100,000 during its campaign. Read More
April 30, 2013: San Francisco-based Jawbone acquires Pittsburgh-based BodyMedia, for an undisclosed sum. This is the first major consolidation in the contentious wearable activity tracker space, and the second mobile health acquisition by Jawbone, which bought health app startup Massive Health for an undisclosed sum in February. Read More
May 1, 2013: Redwood City, California-based Proteus Digital Health announces that it had raised $62.5 million in its latest round of funding led by Oracle with participation from existing investors Otsuka, Novartis, Sino Portfolio and others. In total, Proteus, which was founded in 2001, has raised north of $170 million from a long list of investors that includes Medtronic, Itochu, St. Jude Medical, and Kaiser Permanente Ventures. Read More
May 6, 2013: San Francisco-based Fitbit commercially launches its first wristworn activity and sleep tracking device, Fitbit Flex, which it first announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Fitbit Flex is now on sale for $99.95 at Fitbit.com and at other major retailers, including: Apple Stores, Best Buy, Target, Verizon, and AT&T stores. Read More
May 7, 2013: Annapolis, Maryland-based Zephyr Technology, a wearable remote monitoring company, raises $2.4 million from undisclosed investors, according to an SEC filing. Former investors include 3M New Ventures, Alsop Louie Partners and Motorola Solutions Venture Capital. Read More
May 8, 2013: At the American Telemedicine Association in Austin, Texas, Nonin shows off its newest product, the Nonin 3230 Bluetooth Smart-enabled pulse oximeter. The product is still awaiting FDA 510(K) clearance, but the product is on track to be the first wireless pulse oximeter to use the low energy communication protocol, also known as Bluetooth 4 or Bluetooth LE. Read More
May 10, 2013: Israel-based LabStyle Innovations, which is developing a smartphone-based glucose meter, raises $10 million by common stock that the company plans to accredited investors. The company plans to use the money to develop, market and manufacture Dario, its smartphone-enabled diabetes management system. Dario does not have a CE mark nor does it have FDA approval. Read More
May 21, 2013: Mountain View, California-based iHealth Lab, a subsidiary of Chinese medical device company Andon Health, announces a new device this week, the Wireless Activity and Sleep Tracker. As part of the announcement, iHealth also forms partnerships with two fitness tracking companies, MyFitnessPal and RunKeeper. Read More
May 22, 2013: Scanadu launches an Indiegogo campaign to sell pre-orders of their tricorder device, the Scanadu Scout. In an unprecedented move, the company launches its crowdfunding campaign without FDA 510(k) clearance, with the intention of conducting the usability tests needed to get the clearance via the campaign. It makes its funding goal within two hours. Read More
May 23, 2013: Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign develop a versatile iPhone-based biosensor that, with about $200 worth of parts, is just as accurate as a $50,000 laboratory spectrophotometer. The system, consisting of an iPhone cradle and an app, can detect viruses, bacteria, toxins, proteins and even allergens in food using the smartphone’s camera as a spectrometer and the powerful processor to make calculations. Read More
May 25, 2013: Misfit Wearables announces that it is once more pushing back the shipping date of its crowd-funded Shine tracker, and that the device no longer supports Android. Supporters of Misfit’s $846,000 Indiegogo campaign this past January will now have to wait until mid-July for their trackers. Read More
May 30, 2013: Polar, the longtime makers of heartrate-monitoring watches and chest straps, launche a Bluetooth Smart-enabled, iPhone-connected activity tracker. The Polar Stride Sensor Bluetooth Smart is a small device that clips to the shoe and tracks stride-length, speed, running cadence, and distance. Read More
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