With Apple and Google offering a centralized fitness-tracking platform for their users, Microsoft is certainly not a good spectator, and is not going to allow the competitors advance without giving something for the masses. The software giant is working and created one of its own, Microsoft Health with Microsoft Band to go along with it.
Microsoft has made its popularity among desks. And later, it has made products for living rooms, and then pockets. Now, like many other big technology companies, Microsoft sees its new world on people's wrists.
On Wednesday, October 19th, 2014, Microsoft proudly announced Microsoft Health and Microsoft Band. The fitness and health tracker is able to collect data from variety of wearable devices to give users insights to their personal health.
"A vibrant marketplace of devices and services is giving us access to a wealth of data about our nutrition, health and fitness," wrote Microsoft's VP Todd Holmdahl in a post announcing the Microsoft Health platform. "We see an opportunity to bring these devices and services together to allow you to combine the information they collect and use the power of the cloud to turn that data in to something more valuable."
Microsoft Band takes the form of a black rubber bracelet. The device has ten sensors packed inside it, which includes: GPS sensor, optical heart rate sensor, a 3-axis gyrometer, capacitive sensor, ambient light sensor, skin temperature sensor, a galvanic skin sensor, a capacitive sensor, and a UV light monitor. With more sensors than other fitness trackers, the device feeds Health to give information such as: current heart rate, sleep quality, skin temperature, which exercises burned the most calories, how much recovery time the body needs after training, UV light exposure, and how much calories are burned.
The device that has a full-color display and slim appearance resembling the Samsung Gear Fit or Garmin Vivofit, offers a complement of smartwatch capabilities such as calendar reminders and notifications of incoming email or phone calls. The band will record data without a data connection, then send it to a smartphone via Bluetooth. It can't make calls, but the display will flash messages, emails, social media posts and Cortana's information. The device has a microphone, but no speaker.
Besides that, it allows people to pay for coffee with a gift card barcode. This is made possible because the Health apps is cloud-based, able to work with third-party apps developers, including Starbucks, MapMyFitness, MyFitnessPal, RunKeeper, and Jawbone Up.
By tracking many of the users' well-being and activities, Health with its "Intelligence Engine" can also let users know whether the number of meetings on their calendar affects their sleep quality. And with its ability to learn over time, it grows more capable of knowing whether a workout is too difficult for the user or not. Or by commenting whether eating breakfast will make the user run faster and more effectively.
"Imagine you've set the goal that you want to get fit and lose weight as part of your exercise routine," said Zulfi Alam, General Manager of Personal Devices at Microsoft. "Based on your burn rate and exercise over one week, we will soon be able to auto-suggest a customized workout plan for you. As you follow that plan - or if you don't follow the plan - our technology will continue to adjust to give you the best outward-looking plan, like a real coach would do."
Health and Band represents CEO Satya Nadella's move in defining Microsoft as a "productivity and platforms" company. Productivity here means to encompass personal lives of users.
Better late than never, Microsoft Band faces stiff competition from a variety of wearable fitness devices, but the company is hoping to differentiate itself by working across mobile platforms, along with the potential for Microsoft Health to work with competing wearables. As Microsoft's mobile operating system retains 4 percent market share in the U.S., this smart move is a hope for the company to regain its popularity among users, especially health-focused people who might not otherwise go for Microsoft products.Related: Smarter Wearable Computers as Fashions
