Apple will start to offer health insurance in 2024 as it looks to build on the health data it has acquired from the Apple Watch, an analyst has predicted.
CCS Insight believes that Apple will take its tentative first steps into the US health insurance market in partnership with a major insurer, using the health data it's already collecting to give it a competitive edge over rivals.
Apple already collects data such as blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, ECG readings and body temperature from the Watch, as well as helping people regulate their medication. With accompanying devices, the Watch and iPhone an also be used to monitor conditions such as diabetes.
The analysts believe having access to such rich data will give the company a head start in the insurance market and allow it to cut costs for consumers.
They are in such a storage position to do this, "said Wood chief analyst at CCS Insight. They've got a wealth of personal health data through Apple Watch. if they join some the dots together they can become a very competitive health insurance player and that potentially is going to have quite an impact on the structure of the health market in the U.S".
Apple Watch or Trojan Horse....?
Such a move would raise questions ever whether Apple launched the Watch with the long-term goal of entering the lucrative health insurance market. Wood doesn't believe the Watch was launched with that ambition in mind, but that Apple now views it as a means to enhance its services business.
Wood said the Apple Watch started life as a fashion accessory, but that "Tim Cock private Watch into the health and fitness space, and they hit an area that just resonated with consumers.
I don't think it was a Trojan Horse to get into this, I just think it's been a natural evolution. All of a sudden, they've got and they say should we go into the health care industry?"
Booming Service Business
A shirt into health insurance would also add further impetus to Apple's already booming service business. Service are already generating around $20 billion a quarter, a and CCS Insight continue to grow.
The analysts predict that by 2030, a third of Apple's revenue will come form software and service. It currently represents just under a quarter of the business.
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