Retrospective #481: “I’ve lost 30 pounds,” said Tim Cook, Apple CEO

If you Google, “Tim Cook, ‘I’ve lost 30 pounds,’” you’ll find several pages touting Cook’s boast about how he used his iWatch to lose weight. Of course, he was mainly promoting the utility of a prospective Apple iWatch app in conjunction with emerging medical technology to help manage health conditions and make our lives better.

The quote appears at about the 8:15 mark in this May 2017 video interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer. Cramer was trying to get Cook to reveal the next “new” product from Apple. Cook smiled and at first resisted, saying, “I can’t tell you” [about new products]; and then, here’s what follows in this scripted interview:

Cramer, egging him on with a cue, “Health?”

Cook replies, “You know, this, the watch, has been an incredible move into health, in the wellness and fitness piece.”

Cramer: “You too?” [more script]

Cook: “Yes, I’ve lost 30 pounds, partly [due] to my watch.”

Cramer: [prompting Cook again] “…because it prompts us.”

COOK: [finally getting to his pitch] “BECAUSE IT MOTIVATES YOU. IT CONSTANTLY GIVES YOU FEEDBACK. IT CONSTANTLY GIVES YOU REWARDS, AND THIS MAKES A DIFFERENCE…OVER TIME.”

What Cook and Cramer were talking about is an Apple iWatch app in development that tracks blood sugar continuously from a sensor attached to the upper arm just below the surface of the skin. The sensor captures the rise and fall of blood “sugar” in response to several factors, but primarily to food that is eaten.

If you eat something that causes a large increase, you know that that it will shut down any fat burning your body is doing to supply energy while the “sugar” (glucose from any type of carb) is burned off first. You learn that if you want your body to stay in fat burning mode, instead of sugar-burning mode, you should avoid those foods.

Cook’s pitch and Cramer’s interest are all about business, specifically the conjunction of health science and technology. It’s a crowded field. Scores of innovators are operating under the radar, clamoring to get on the bandwagon for a piece of the mass-market. The early birds certainly have an advantage, but…over time, as technology advances, the products will become commodified, and competition will bring costs down.

In the 2017 interview, Cook was certainly aware that a “high cost” solution was on the market. By March 2018 the FDA had approved the Dexcom 6 Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM). It costs about $5,000 a year and includes an integrated mobile app which automatically downloads results to a Bluetooth-enabled device.

Then in August 2018 the FDA approved the new Freestyle Libre CGM (about $1,620 a year). It does not have an integrated mobile app yet, but a startup, Ambrosia, has a workaround called BluCon to download results.

Metronic is in the race too but lags at this writing. Stay tuned, though. By the time you read this, who knows?

Unfortunately for most type 2 diabetics, Medical insurance, including Medicare and “Supplemental,” will only pay for this durable medical equipment and supplies if you are an insulin-dependent diabetic who injects MEALTIME insulin. The government’s policy is designed to help patients avoid life-threatening hypos (hypoglycemia), which, for some diabetics, is an all-too-common and sometimes life-threatening occurrence, often requiring hospitalization.

But Tim Cook’s market is “the wellness and fitness piece” – i.e., the entire rest of the world – who will benefit from an inexpensive app and an affordable sensor that can be integrated with the latest Apple iWatch… BECAUSE IT MOTIVATES YOU. IT CONSTANTLY GIVES YOU FEEDBACK. IT CONSTANTLY GIVES YOU REWARDS, AND THIS MAKES A DIFFERENCE. And almost everyone could stand to lose 30 pounds. Lots of us, even more!