Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is buying Gliimpse, a startup that organizes electronic medical data so that patients can collect and securely share it. Healthcare providers and software developers pay for its software and services. Apple intends to integrate it into its HealthKit platform for use with the Apple Watch. As part of Apple’s iOS operating system, Gliimpse will have a far wider reach.
Allowing people to own and use their own medical data is crucial to disintermediating arbitrary authorities. In the past, healthcare intermediaries demanded a role in everything including pregnancy tests. Today, it is less and less clear why people can’t simply have and use the data themselves.
