FDA ECG approval for Alphabet Watch and Google's recent Fossil deal hint at smartwatch plans

Alphabet, as you are probably familiar by now, is the parent company of Google, but also several others. This also includes Verily a health-focused company that has developed a smartwatch specifically made for clinical studies it first introduced in 2017. The company has now received FDA certification for its ECG functionality, which puts it on par with the latest Apple Watch Series 4.

To date, the Verily Study Watch (as it is officially known) has been used specifically to assist researchers in the study of Parkinson’s disease among others. The new functionality will help it detect A-Fib, or irregular heartbeats which can be fatal if not treated. Again, this is an area that Apple is interested in as well. Verily also makes other health specific technology including contact lenses that detect blood glucose levels.

Along with the Google’s recent purchase of some yet to be disclosed smartwatch technology from Fossil for US$40m, this new development also gives us some pretty strong clues about Google’s likely plans for the rumored Pixel Watch. Apple has made good ground with the Apple Watch by focusing on its health-related functionality, and it looks like this probably where Google will be heading as well.

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