When news leaked that Google planned to get into mobile health data, it was assumed its project would, like Apple's and Samsung's, focus on gathering health data in one location. That appears to be partially wrong.
In the promotional materials announcing a service called Google Fit, the company studiously avoids the word “health.”
Instead, we're treated to many, many instances and variations of the word “fitness.” Google Fit will integrate fitness data from a variety of sensors and partners—including Adidas, Nike, Withings and others—and allow apps to monitor that data if you give permission. That would serve much the same purpose as Apple's HealthKit and Samsung's services. A developer could take that data into a health or FDA-regulated direction, but the rhetorical emphasis is interesting (and perhaps influenced by Google's earlier failures in health data).
The announcement at Google's I/O developer conference was for the API and SDK—essentially tools for developers to learn how to build apps with the capability of accessing the panoply of fitness data available to your phone. Google suggested the SDK will be available by fall 2014.
Follow Darius Tahir on Twitter: @dariustahir
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