Withings launches ECG watch to compete with Apple

Apple has a new competitor to its smart watch-based electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, after Withings announced a rival at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The new watch was among a group of wearables announced at the CES by Withings, which was formerly the health technology division of Nokia.

Now under the ownership of its original founder Eric Carreel, Withings is taking on the tech giant with the new watch, dubbed The Move ECG.

The Move ECG has three electrodes to take measurements – two inside the back of the watch and a third in the bezel.

Users touch both sides of the bezel to take a measurement, and the watch vibrates when it has a reading.

The data can be found in a companion app, Health Mate.

The FDA is reviewing the ECG feature, and while it does not need clearance to sell it, backing from the regulator would improve its marketing potential and image, the tech website The Verge noted.

Apple has received FDA clearance for ECG monitoring for its latest Apple Watch, with the caveat that the device should not replace traditional methods of diagnosis or treatment.

Other health features on the ECG include an ability to track users’ activity levels and steps based on their phone’s GPS, as well as a sleep monitor.

Priced at $130, Withings is competing against Apple on price, as well as a claimed battery life of a year.

Apple already has competition from AliveCor, which has produced an ECG system where a wearable band transmits data to a user’s smartphone.

AliveCor said last year that it aims to develop a more accurate six-lead ECG system that could detect around 100 diseases.

Withings is also launching BPM Core, a connected cuff and stainless steel tube designed to take blood pressure readings, monitor heart rhythm, and listen to the heart through a digital stethoscope.