The Apple Watch Was Born In A Lab - A Fitness Lab

You might expect a state-of-the-art fitness lab to be housed at Nike or Adidas, and they probably are. When it comes to wearables, you might expect a manufacturer to slap some sensors in a band and call it a day — and you might be right, by and large. With Apple's latest big pitch, the Apple Watch, things are pretty serious behind the scenes. For years, Apple has been conducting research in a top secret lab in California, all meant to provide context for their incoming wearable.

Apple employees have been volunteering for a project over the past few years, wherein they'd participate in all manner of exercise while a tablet or phone, in conjunction with specially designed equipment like face masks, monitored their vitals.

Employees had no idea what the project was for, either. Apple execs in charge of the project would put Apple Watches on the wrists of test subjects, but cover it up.

There were also "climate chambers", which tested Apple Watch durability in a variety of settings.

While meant for Apple Watch, the fitness lab also contributed to HealthKit, Apple's back-end fitness measuring tool. The work in this lab resulted in the consumer-facing Health app as well, which serves as the contextual face for HealthKit.

While the Apple Watch hardware may have been born on Jony Ive's desk, it seems more hard work was done elsewhere, in an unassuming building where Apple employees subjected themselves to fitness testing for a project they were totally unaware of. For a video of the lab itself, check out the link below.

Source: ABC