omarchisti
03-20-2009, 05:51 PM
I have been thinking (maybe dreaming) for a while now of having my Dexcom sync with my iPhone so that I don't have to carry around the receiver. After hearing of the new iPhone 3.0 software, that should come out by summer, and how it will now be able to sync to medical devices, I sent the below email to the CEO and head of R&D over at Dexcom. Of course, I am yet to get a reply. Thoughts?
_____________________________
Hello Mr. Gregg and Mr. Brauker,
I have been using your Dexcom SEVEN for a little over a year and think it is wonderful.
I wanted to take some time to make you aware of something I thought about after reading of Apple's new iPhone 3.0 software that will be made available soon. If you read this article:
http://myfreepedia.com/apple-presenting-iphone-os-30-over-100-new-featuresenjoy-that.html
you will see about 2/3 down the page this quote:
“Another exciting option is creating medical accessories such as Bluetooth heart rate monitors or finger pricking Bluetooth glucose testers for diabetics.”
That made me think... What if Dexcom made a SEVEN transmitter that communicated via Bluetooth? If you did, one could very easily convert the software that is found in the SEVEN receiver into an iPhone application. This would allow:
1) One no longer has to carry around the receiver as the transmitter would be able to send glucose readings to the phone
2) Because it would be Bluetooth it would provide about the same range, 1 meter, should you choose to use the Class 3 Bluetooth technology (which only consumes up to 1 milliwatt of power). Of course, Class 2 and Class 1 provide even further range but they consume much more power.
Finally, if you are concerned with lost revenue due to consumers not purchasing your SEVEN receiver, you could very easily charge the same amount for the iPhone application via the Apple iTunes AppStore. That way, Dexcom would lose virtually no sales revenue and you could potentially cut your SEVEN receiver manufacturing costs 100%. You could even issue software updates via the AppStore and even charge for those. You may be thinking, “Yeah, well this will only be feasible for consumers that have iPhones.” While initially that would be true, since I am selfishly hoping you will make it for the iPhone first because I own one, smartphones are the wave of the future. Google’s Android Market, RIM’s Blackberry AppWorld, Palm’s Software Store and Nokia’s Ovi are other manufacturer’s versions of Apple’s AppStore. They all allow for third parties to sell applications for their phones. It is only a matter of time before every phone manufacturer adopts this business model.
I can only hope that Dexcom strongly considers this exciting possibility and makes it a reality. I can almost guarantee that anybody with one of the aforementioned smartphones would pay for a Dexcom SEVEN application that could monitor their glucose levels via their phone. I know I would.
Thanks,
Omar Chisti
_____________________________
Hello Mr. Gregg and Mr. Brauker,
I have been using your Dexcom SEVEN for a little over a year and think it is wonderful.
I wanted to take some time to make you aware of something I thought about after reading of Apple's new iPhone 3.0 software that will be made available soon. If you read this article:
http://myfreepedia.com/apple-presenting-iphone-os-30-over-100-new-featuresenjoy-that.html
you will see about 2/3 down the page this quote:
“Another exciting option is creating medical accessories such as Bluetooth heart rate monitors or finger pricking Bluetooth glucose testers for diabetics.”
That made me think... What if Dexcom made a SEVEN transmitter that communicated via Bluetooth? If you did, one could very easily convert the software that is found in the SEVEN receiver into an iPhone application. This would allow:
1) One no longer has to carry around the receiver as the transmitter would be able to send glucose readings to the phone
2) Because it would be Bluetooth it would provide about the same range, 1 meter, should you choose to use the Class 3 Bluetooth technology (which only consumes up to 1 milliwatt of power). Of course, Class 2 and Class 1 provide even further range but they consume much more power.
Finally, if you are concerned with lost revenue due to consumers not purchasing your SEVEN receiver, you could very easily charge the same amount for the iPhone application via the Apple iTunes AppStore. That way, Dexcom would lose virtually no sales revenue and you could potentially cut your SEVEN receiver manufacturing costs 100%. You could even issue software updates via the AppStore and even charge for those. You may be thinking, “Yeah, well this will only be feasible for consumers that have iPhones.” While initially that would be true, since I am selfishly hoping you will make it for the iPhone first because I own one, smartphones are the wave of the future. Google’s Android Market, RIM’s Blackberry AppWorld, Palm’s Software Store and Nokia’s Ovi are other manufacturer’s versions of Apple’s AppStore. They all allow for third parties to sell applications for their phones. It is only a matter of time before every phone manufacturer adopts this business model.
I can only hope that Dexcom strongly considers this exciting possibility and makes it a reality. I can almost guarantee that anybody with one of the aforementioned smartphones would pay for a Dexcom SEVEN application that could monitor their glucose levels via their phone. I know I would.
Thanks,
Omar Chisti