Just when we thought the connected device craze lost steam, commercial interest in smart thermometers has seen a recent uptick. Is the Zika virus and flu season to blame, or is connected health finally gaining lasting mainstream appeal? 

Despite a noted lull in consumer interest for connected fitness devices, the market opportunity for connected health is ultimately expected to achieve great heights. According to forecasts by MarketsandMarkets, the Internet of Things Healthcare Market is expected to be worth $163.24 billion by 2020, a 38.1 percent increase from $32.47 billion in 2015. The growth is expected to be driven by the evolution of high speed networking technologies, as well as the rise in the demand for remote patient monitoring across the world.

Anticipating the databases and analytics needed to organize and commoditize health-related data, legacy tech companies like IBM are investing heavily in initiatives such as Watson. IBM sees significant opportunities in crafting SaaS verticals within the healthcare sector, with artificial intelligence programs aiding healthcare providers in research, diagnoses and hospital operations.

Contributing to the burgeoning connected health market are consumer devices designed to track signs of illness, with support to monitor multiple users from a centralized mobile application. July alone saw two new smart thermometers making their debut: Kinsa, Inc.’s Sesame Street Smart Ear Thermometer and app, and Withings SA’s Thermo and app.

These thermometers aim to make it easier for parents to monitor their febrile kids and keep track not only of temperature readings, but also symptoms, medications taken, as well as receiving reminder alerts on their mobile devices via the accompanying apps when it’s time to take one’s temperature.

With the failure of fitness trackers including the Nike Fuelband, and the demise of Quirky, a marketplace of sorts for connected consumer gadgets, IoT service providers are finding more value in consumer data than devices. Services via iPhone or Android apps became the selling point for many IoT companies, with smart home security driving the most market adoption. Has the smart device trend returned focus to health-related apps, and does flu season have anything to do with it? 

You give me fever!

A fever is not an illness, it is a manifestation of an illness; a sign that something is not right with a person’s body.

Zika, Ebola, Malaria, Dengue – these are just some infectious diseases making their round across the globe and doing damage. One sign common to all is fever, but depending on what you have, duration and severity of the fever varies. This is where temperature monitoring comes into play, an activity so simple that can be difficult to take action on without the right tools and knowledge.

While there’s no data indicating a direct causation of notorious viruses like Zika and an increase in smart thermometer manufacturing, there are some notable signals we can glean from technology demonstrating times that spreading viruses can drive consumers to action. Search engines and even niche social networks have sought to leverage consumer data to predict and prevent the spread of illness, but there remains a data quality and accuracy issue with such inferred data.

As the smart home security trend proved a profitable use case for connected consumer services, the healthcare market is evolving to gain appeal via software services, beyond the sell of the device itself. Encouraging more direct relationships with consumers facilitates more accurate data, and paves the way for future integration with healthcare provider databases and improved data-sharing between patients and doctors.

This enhanced focus on the user experience is not only key for differentiating the growing number of devices on the market for tracking health and illness, but aids in the contextualization of data collected by said devices.

Smart thermometer review

I received a review unit of the Withings Thermo, which fatefully came just days before my son spiked a fever because he was teething.

The device cannot be used right out of the box, as users need to setup a Withings account if they do not have one yet, then creating user profiles via the Thermo app, then activate the device. The setup and pairing was a bit of a lengthy process, but easy enough to follow, with instructions right in the mobile app. 

As for the Thermo device itself, it was pretty easy to use even when you’re using it on yourself or another adult, or even bigger kids. However, when dealing with a febrile, cranky infant, you might want to brace yourself for some screaming and even swatting of hands. Febrile infants do not seem to want foreign objects near their faces. It was easier to take his temperature while he was sleeping, but he eventually got used to the Thermo being pointed at his head.

As for Kinsa’s smart thermometer, personally I haven’t tried it, but I imagine my son swatting my hands away as I try to put something in or near his ear. The difference might come down to Kinsa using Elmo to help track kids’ fever, as well as distracting the kid while taking the temperature. Also, Kinsa users can tap into a database of what current illnesses are going around the neighborhood or school, so parents can better protect their kids so they won’t get sick.

Though Withings Thermo doesn’t have a community that tracks diseases going around, it is in collaboration with Boston’s Children Hospital to delivers some basic information about fevers, what to do when your child has one, and when children should be taken to the hospital for immediate medical attention.

Infectious Brazil

The 2016 Olympic Games kicked off on August 4 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Though the tropical country may seem like the perfect place to hold the Summer Olympics, the country is plagued with polluted water laden with drug-resistant super bacteria, not to mention the presence of the Zika virus in the country which is carried by infected mosquitoes.

Kinsa is taking a proactive approach in helping Team USA keep an eye out for Zika infection by arming the team with its smart thermometers. Kinsa’s Smart Stick Thermometer and app will allow Team USA to keep track of temperature readings and symptoms as well as deliver actionable steps based on the person’s age and key health indicators. It also offers a ‘groups’ feature that allows for anonymous data sharing, which will be useful in tracking which symptoms and illnesses have been reported by others as well.

“Zika virus has been relatively unknown to most of the general public until recently; tracking exposure, signs and symptoms will help inform the spread of infection,” said Dr. Beth Seidenberg, partner at KPCB and Kinsa board member. “One of the important actions during a potential pandemic is to track temperature, symptoms over time and location of the infected person.”

The Summer Olympics is just one place where sickness tracking could prove to be useful which means smart thermometers can be useful in regions where Dengue, Malaria, Zika, and other infectious diseases are prevalent.

The bigger picture

These smart thermometers may be sold to consumers but that doesn’t mean that it cannot help people better connect with their doctors.

Though Withings and Kinsa have yet to reveal if they have any plans on releasing a subscription-based service that would connect patients to doctors whenever they need an immediate consult, their smart thermometers and apps could pave the way to a better doctor-patient relationship.

As mentioned earlier, these smart thermometers and apps are able to record more information from temperature, symptoms and medications, all of which are needed by doctors to aid them in diagnosing the patient. Instead of patients just trying to remember when they took what medication or what the temperature readings were over the previous 24 hours, patients can simply show the apps to their doctors. 

If Withings and Kinsa ever do launch subscription-based health services, other benefits they could bring to the table will include a remote health care team for custom care plans, travel alerts and preventative care recommendations — data-driven services sourced from the ultimate clinical trial. 

Feature image via Withings