Jawbone is coming back to wearables – and it’s got COVID in its sights
Jawbone isn’t dead – and there are signs that the company is prepping a new fitness tracker.
A device from Jawbone, called the Band B, has been spotted receiving Bluetooth certification, and it reveals what the company has been doing since it imploded back in 2017.
Jawbone dramatically imploded and relaunched as Jawbone Health, after a series of failed products and lawsuits. And the silence has been deafening – until now.
While there’s zero detail about the Jawbone Band B, the Bluetooth listing references All.Health, which is a three year old company set up by Jawbone founder Hosain Rahman.
A quick check of the All Health placeholder website reveals the company is focused on catching “acute respiratory infections and lifestyle diseases early and guide you toward a healthier life.”
With such a focused mission goal, it seems likely that any future Jawbone band could be destined to act as an early warning system for COVID 19.
A quick check of All.Health on LinkedIn shows it’s already garnered 44 employees, and it’s currently hiring a device engineer. At the top is the former Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman and Bandar Antabi former head of Jawbone Special Projects.
The rest is a mish-mash of former Jawbone engineers and the company’s Chief Medical Officer David Benaron, who lists his role at All.Health as “bringing bleeding edge AI/Deep Learning informatics…to provide real-time health and lifestyle intelligence and guidance, to improve one’s life-quality, well-being, and health.”
Back to devices. We know nothing of the Band B – but there is a little detail around a supposed Band A. An FCC filing from back in 2020 lists a user manual for the Band A, which looks like a screen-less fitness tracker with pretty basic specs, and the fact it lists Bluetooth 4.0 seems like it’s some refitted Jawbone UP3 perhaps certified for the purposes of trials.
It does include a skin temperature sensor, which would back up the idea that the company is targeting illness detection.
COVID-19 detection is a big wearable tech story, and Jawbone’s arch nemesis Fitbit has been active in the space. Fitbit execs have confirmed that illness detection is a big incoming feature for 2021, and temperature sensors are included on the Fitbit Sense, Fitbit Luxe and Fitbit Charge 4. We have also seen mass trials of Oura and Ava Bracelet.
Could Fitbit and Jawbone be about to lock horns again? We’d love to see it.
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