After Apple, Google is also set to launch a new health focused service called Google Fit.
According to a report by Forbes, the Mountain View giant’s new service will be capable of collecting and aggregating data from fitness trackers and health apps. The publication cites multiple sources with knowledge of the company’s plans to report that Google Fit would be launched at the Google I/O conference scheduled for June 25 and 26. Google will also announce partnerships with wearable device makers at the conference as per the report.
Google Fit will collect data through open APIs allowing apps to share information with the service. The report also suggests that the service will let wearable devices synchronise data with Google’s cloud services.
However, it’s not clear if Google Fit will be integrated with Android or exist as a stand alone app.
It’s interesting to note that Google had started a service called Google Health in 2008. The service enabled users to store and manage health related information including prescriptions, medical history, medical records on the Web. However, Google shuttered it down in with effect from 1 January 2012 citing the lack of adoption as reason.
Google Fit will compete with Apple’s HealthKit service, which was recently announced at the WWDC conference. It allows apps that provide health and fitness services to share their data with Apple’s upcoming Health app and with each other. The service stores a user’s health information in a centralized and secure location giving the user an option to decide which data should be shared with an app.
