Jawbone, the maker of stylish Bluetooth headsets, has announced an expansion of its wearable computing devices to a wristband that monitors your health.
Named “Up”, the new gadget was unveiled by Hosain Rahman, Jawbone chief executive, at the Ted Global conference in Edinburgh on Wednesday.
Speaking on the phone from the event, he told me Up represented the next extension for Jawbone in mobile wearable computing.
“I’ve been wearing mine for almost a month, because I wanted to see how much I could integrate it into my lifestyle and not one person stopped me and asked what it was – it was like having a watch on your wrist,” he said.
“I can shower, I can sleep with it, I can do all those kinds of things and not have it be intrusive.”
Jawbone has given few details so far on pricing, release date – other than later this year – or what Up will monitor other than to describe it as an “ intelligent, wearable wristband with an application that combines tracking, analysis, social and motivational elements. It will track people’s movement, sleep patterns and nutrition 24/7 and present personalised recommendations and challenges so they can live a healthier life.”
It sounds as if it will challenge existing health monitors such as Fitbit and the Bodymedia Fit. I tried the Bodymedia product for several months and its main problem for me was that it became a pain to wear all the time and was not something I would like to show off in public on my upper arm.
In contrast, the Up looks more comfortable and more of a fashion accessory on the wrist, so Jawbone may be onto something in looks and comfort at least.
Health is a whole new category for the San Francisco company to tackle, but a $70m funding round by JP Morgan, announced on Tuesday, (following a $49m investment by Andreessen Horowitz in March) will certainly help drive this expansion.
