Microsoft Takes Another Stab at Health Market with Cloud Service, $199 Fitness Band

   
© Microsoft microsoft-band_hero_2
Microsoft on Wednesday is taking the wraps off a long-expected wearable that will plug into a new Microsoft Health fitness tracking service.
Microsoft Band, as the product is known, will go on sale Thursday for $199 and be available at Microsoft’s physical and online stores. The device, which somewhat resembles Samsung’s Gear Fit, is designed to last 48 hours on a single charge and to be worn all day to track both sleep and exercise as well as receive smartphone notifications.
The band has 10 sensors to track the usual things like heart rate as well as more novel detectors, including a UV sensor for sun exposure and a galvanic skin response measurement which can help identify stress. The Microsoft Health cloud-based service will be able to crunch numbers from data gathered from either Microsoft’s band as well as data from other devices, including rival smartphones and fitness bands. A companion app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone offers a deeper look at the data gathered by the band.
It’s not Microsoft’s first effort to play a role in digital health. It launched HealthVault back in 2007. Microsoft says the new service can plug into HealthVault, which is more focused on medical records than personal fitness data.
Nor is Microsoft alone among tech giants in this space, with Apple having its HealthKit initiative and Google having its Google Fit effort. Samsung also announced a similar effort to Microsoft’s earlier this year.
Microsoft is leaning on the fact that it works with all the major mobile ecosystems as a key selling point.
“We are as open as you get,” Matt Barlow, GM, new devices marketing. “We are iOS we are Android and we are windows phone.”
With Windows Phone you also get voice access to Microsoft’s Cortana assistant, but otherwise Band works similarly across platforms, Barlow said.
The company also notes that–if customers want to– Microsoft Health can combine work and personal data and gather insights such as how a big meeting with the boss affects that night’s sleep. Other features include access to Facebook and Twitter feeds, as well as weather and stock data.
The company had planned to announce the news later on Wednesday, but it leaked out after the company posted details of the companion Windows Phone app, an Android App and a Mac app ahead of the official announcement.
Microsoft hopes the features will grow over time. It is working with a bunch of partners, including fitness tracking app makers MapMyFitness and RunKeeper, hardware maker Jawbone and Starbucks, with the last one allowing users to pay for their coffee using only a gift card barcode on the watch.
Longtime Microsoft executive Yusuf Mehdi has been among those spearheading Microsoft’s latest fitness efforts, along with corporate VP Todd Holmdahl.