During Startup Fest Europe, Tim Cook compared Apple’s ambitious hopes for improvements to Apple Watch functionality to a car’s computer monitoring system, Bloomberg reports. “If you drive for a while and your car gets too hot, it says pull over. If you need an oil change, it says check your oil. What’s the equivalent for the body?” Cook said to the crowd. The current Apple Watch monitors vital signs and encourages users to move around or exercise at regular intervals, but Cook hopes to see a watch that will know more about the body and even be able to recommend a doctor’s visit when it’s necessary.
That detailed level of monitoring might not be capable with one device, and Cook said such an intricate system is likely to come from experiments with several solutions, but improving health is a main component of the Apple Watch’s purpose. “The holy grail of the watch is being able to monitor more and more of what’s going on in your body,” Cook said. “If you could have a device that knew so much about you, it would be incredible, and would extend life and extend quality. I’m not saying one device will do all of that.”
Cook also used the opportunity to once again deny that Apple is trying to provide its own virtual network for cellphone users, 9to5Mac reports. Reports that Apple was looking at becoming a mobile virtual network operator and selling its own cellular plans surfaced last year, but Cook said Apple’s expertise doesn’t extend to managing a network. “We don’t have the network skill,” Cook said. “We’ll do some things along the way with e-SIMs along the way, but in general, I like the things carriers do.”
