Consumers increasingly are trying new tools to track their fitness habits, check in with their doctors and manage their own health care. But they have clear preferences when it comes to the companies they’re willing to share that information with.
Consumers are only willing to share their health data with certain companies
Mary Meeker’s presentation shows a preference for companies like Google and Microsoft.
Tucked into Mary Meeker’s annual presentation of internet trends at the Code Conference is a survey conducted in 2016 that found consumers are open to turning over their data to companies like Google, Microsoft, Samsung and Apple — but much more skeptical when it comes to Amazon, Facebook and IBM.
Many of those tech giants already have prominent health offerings — like accelerometers in Google and Samsung smartphones that help count steps. Others, like Apple, are exploring new tools, including a glucose-tracking capability for its Apple Watch that the company’s chief executive, Tim Cook, has been spotted testing.
But adoption could come down to consumers’ confidence in those companies, Meeker’s slides reveal. Perhaps that’s most concerning for a company like IBM. About 37 percent of respondents said they were willing to share their data with the company, which has sought to deploy its Watson supercomputer to analyze troves of information to spot diseases and research cures.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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