- Masimo, the company that sued Apple over patent infringement, has unveiled its own blood oxygen monitoring smartwatch called the Masimo Freedom.
- The Masimo Freedom is a health-focused device that can track blood oxygen levels, hydration index, respiration rate, pulse rate variability, pulse rate, steps, and detect falls.
- The smartwatch is currently in prototype stage and will be available for sale later this year at a price of $999.
Archive link: https://archive.ph/aOUXX
In the name of every medical professional out there:
Fuck Masimo. You piece of shit garbage company.
Masimo does strategically patent troll other companies to keep their monopoly on oxygen saturation technology, deliver a subpar product that is very likely designed with planned obsolescence (which actively endangers patients). It’s an absolute shit show.
Patent trolling Apple doesn’t seem like a winning move. Can they really sell a smartwatch without infringing on anything in Apple’s patent portfolio? The revenge will be swift and terrifying
They can license it, just like how Apple should have licensed their tech.
They aren’t a patent troll. This is literally their business. They are sueing apple becsuse they are violating their patent and could have or has had a negative impact on their business. This is the kind of suit patents were designed for.
Patent trolls buy up patents but produce nothing and do nothing with those parents–except for suing people to make money.
Charging $999 for a watch is the next idea Apple will steal from them.
It isn’t even an official price.
Price is for United States only and is subject to change based on final design, specifications, and features.
I feel like they’d have made more money by licensing their patent to Apple rather than trying to sell a watch for a ridiculous $999 price tag. I’m not saying they were wrong for their patent lawsuit, and it’s nice to see that small companies can still win, but I just don’t see this early product getting enough sales for them to profit.
I might be mistaken, but I think Apple started with a licensing deal and then walked back on it?
Googled and found this
Nobody is buying this and I don’t think they are trying very hard to sell it either. Notice that this pricing is only in the U.S. This seems like a ploy to bolster their case for damages and/or royalties in a settlement. Or maybe just part of their patent defense strategy. This company is primarily in medical tech. Even if they aren’t so interested in the consumer market, they have to protect their patent or someone in a market they do care about will get away with it too. I would assume it strengthens their case if they can demonstrate material damages in a market they participate in. So quickly unveil a prototype, price it so there’s little to no demand, don’t bother manufacturing a product nobody wants, win the case, cancel the product.
I’m definitely curious about the history here, since it seems like Apple would have easily been able to offer more than they can benefit here. Who did what and when? Who tried to compromise with what and who rejected it?
From the PR side, Apple seems reasonable and has a good explanation, but clearly the court did not find their arguments convincing
I don’t know if there are sources I’m not finding, but a lot of people here are very confidently stating as facts, things I don’t see any source for so may be based on irrational hatred of a consumer products company
Not a fan of Apple but the number of people who would benefit from being able to monitor blood oxygenation is more meaningful to me than Masimo’s ability to sell thousand dollar smartwatches with its patent technology. Would be great if somehow this patent was bought out and made public domain so people outside the upper middle class could have an affordable way to track their vitals.
Apple can easily pay to license the technology and utilise it, and has had multiple chances to over the years at reasonable prices.
This result is only because Apple is run by some absolute morons who were happy to try and steal the tech but got caught with their pants down.
As for making it available to upper middle class, there’s plenty of devices out there already for monitoring blood oxygenation for under $100.
Apple is run by some absolute morons who were happy to try and steal the tech
Xerox PARC intensifies
If you look at almost everything “iconic” that Apple has ever done they have “borrowed” or outright stolen from others. This is entirely on brand for Apple. They just ran up against someone who was willing to push back.
Would be great if somehow this patent was bought out and made public domain so people outside the upper middle class could have an affordable way to track their vitals.
Apple is a strange choice as a champion for that. Their devices always have been notoriously overpriced.
Apple also holds over 95,500 patents. I will never get why some people defend this crazy company. They make underperforming computers and sell them for wayyy over their value.
Please list here all competitors to the MacBook Air in the same price point:
Battery life must be equal or better, no extra points will be given for massive CPU/GPU power. I’ll wait.
Their devices always have been notoriously overpriced.
I disagree. They don’t offer a low-end option, but their devices are fairly priced for what you get. People keep claiming they are overpriced but when you ask them for a cheaper alternative they always respond with something not even remotely comparable.
I can’t relate to the value you place in them. You couldn’t pay me to use Apple software.
They notoriously sell older components and technologies in their brand new computers.
I have one I got for free that was made in 2020. It’s a MacBook Air. It has 8gb of RAM… I don’t even know how they found RAM chips that small in 2020. It freezes every day when all I’m doing is running a web browser. This computer was $1,000 at the time it launched.
$999
I have no use for a HR smart watch but at this price it’s not even a possibility. Hundreds of dollars is acceptable but this is a hard no for me. My Casio G-Shock GBD 200 + GadgetBridge has all the features I want from a smart watch and costs about $150.
However, I will say kudos to Masimo for sticking it to Apple. Not many people can go against a giant like that and win.
This is less than some of the more feature-rich Garmin watches. That said, Garmin’s offerings are best-in-class, so they can justify it.
Garmins (or most of them) also last for a month with a single charge, unlike most smart watches. For me that’s worth a little premium.
I’ve never gotten more than a week tops from my Garmin watches, a handful of runs and it needs a recharge. And I need to fully charge it if it’s a long run or risk it dying on me while I’m running.
Garmin software, particularly their integration with third parties absolutely bloody sucks. Their hardware is amazing though.
That is more than the last two phones I’ve bought put together, Holy Balls. No way am I spending a grand on a smart watch.
The G shock sounds tempting.
