Microsoft Band tracks heart rate, steps, calorie burn, and sleep quality. The company’s ambitious goal, according to Yusuf Mehdi, is “to unify all that (collected health) data and democratize it, and then add some real value on top.”
The cross-platform cloud service, by Microsoft’s Health Group, stores and accesses all the data a device or phone collects. Health apps are being built for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. The platform manages data on the back end for existing and new apps. Health will work with Android Wear watches, Android phones, and the iPhone 6’s motion processor, automatically collecting data. Microsoft has also been working with Jawbone, MapMyFitness, My Fitness Pal, and Runkeeper to import data, and plans to add many more partners.