Bram Spuijbroek

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The healthcare industry is transforming into a world in which patients take control. By taking its own data and collecting all sorts of new data through the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT). With GDPR, Europeans can request their records from medical institutions and store it locally (Savarese, 2019). IoT allows all sorts of new devices to collect data about your health, from sensors that measure heart rates to complex sensors for an electrocardiogram. And new possibilities are coming to the market every day. With all this accumulated data, patients can create their own digital health portfolio, a digital place were all health-related information is stored. A digital health portfolio has many advantages over the current practice, for one, people get a better insight into their own health status. They can continuously check their status, easily share it with their doctor and compare data with others or with the past. Moreover, this portfolio can be accessed anywhere and anytime, so previous struggles in foreign countries with a foreign language can be minimized – it would help if information management is standardized. Apple.inc is investing a great sum of money in this new model, the Apple health app lets users store and manage health-related data (Farr, 2019). Moreover, the app gives valuable insight, by alerting when someone’s heart rate is too high, or even notify the user if the music is too loud. Nowadays, mostly athletes and tech-geeks track their health status, however, in the future, this might become the standard. And the more apps like these are being used, the better it will be able to perform because of AI, and especially machine learning. The possibilities of AI with the health data are ground-breaking, sickness can be predicted and therefore prevented. Furthermore, AI will be able to personalize healthcare, so that every person will get its own treatment plan, suited just for them.

Savarese, C. (2019). GDPR One Year Later: How To Navigate The Data Collection Minefield. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/06/07/gdpr-one-year-later-how-to-navigate-the-data-collection-minefield/#1f81ea454475

Farr, C. (2019). Health care is one of Apple’s most lucrative opportunities: Morgan Stanley. CNBC. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/08/apple-could-top-300-billion-in-sales-from-health-care-morgan-stanley.html

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Privacy has been a hot topic in the last couple of years. The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica incident and China’s social credit system have opened discussions about how to deal with personal data in this digital era. Many disapprove of the fact that their data is distributed across servers/companies/people, especially without consent; something Apple has taken seriously. In 2017 they announced a new course of direction, one in which data is highly protected – compared to other tech companies (Markman, 2019). This change is something the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, has advocated extensively over the past few years, but is it wise?
Probably not. This is because many companies, especially tech companies, nowadays rely on data and will increasingly do so in the future. With Apple’s new strategy they are withholding themselves from crucial data that other companies will collect. Moreover, Apple is currently diving into new markets, by introducing, for example, the Apple Pay credit card and launching its own TV streaming platform; markets that are heavily dependent on data. By predicting what purchases one will do or which shows one will like, these services could become much more valuable and data is the essential ingredient for these predictions. However, Apple does not collect any data, does not track anyone and will not share any data (O’Flaherty, 2019). A noble decision, but also guaranteed to be unable to compete in the long run.
Furthermore, once a strategy like this has been announced it is hard to go back. If Apple would start collecting data again it would raise major criticism, much more than if companies like Amazon or Google (Alphabet) keep collecting data as they are used to.
Therefore, Apple has put itself in a difficult situation, without data they will not be able to improve its services at the rate their competitors can. They might still have a competitive advantage in the short run, but in the long run, this lack of accumulated data will turn into a money loser that they cannot reverse.

References:
Markman, J. (2019). Why Apple Will Come To Regret It’s Privacy Activism. Forbes. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmarkman/2019/06/23/why-apple-will-come-to-regret-its-privacy-activism/#3d3c82ff42a9
O’Flaherty, K. (2019). Here’s The Real Reason Apple Claims To Care About Your Privacy. Forbes. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2019/03/26/heres-the-real-reason-apple-claims-to-care-about-your-privacy/#5741ddb030f8

Track yourself, it’s the future

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Apple’s strategy is suicide

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