Blood oxygen monitoring returning to Apple Watch in the US • Hacker News Board

Re: Blood oxygen monitoring returning to Apple Watch in the US

#201

Post by bookofjoe » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 8:14 PM UTC

rblatz wrote: post #87

andrewmcwatters wrote: post #54

You can buy a fingertip pulse oximeter for like $10. I understand the benefits of having all of these biometric readers directly on your personal device, but the perceived stress over getting this back into the watch seems... I don't know, not wise? In poor taste? Something, but I can't articulate it well. I mean, we don't have IR blasters on any of our personal devices anymore, and arguably it would be nice to be ab…

iPhone can control Apple TVs, and is able to detect which device you are nearest to and auto select it (if you have multiple) Also all my TVs also have apps that function as a remote control. Interestingly enough my main TV an LG has a remote that controls the tv using RF. I don’t even know if it would work with an IR blaster.

Apple Watch can also control Apple TVs.

Re: Blood oxygen monitoring returning to Apple Watch in the US

#202

Post by burnerthrow008 » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 8:16 PM UTC

FireBeyond wrote: post #165

geodel wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. Somehow people here are struggling on how to pin blame on Apple even when developers are better off with Apple's offer. It is a great outcome for anyone who is developer. If in their world view "best developer salary is not always the best thing" one could have better reasoning for supporting little guy Massimo getting crushed by Apple.

So if Apple came to your company, promising licensing, collaboration and other things, when all along their intention was to "take" "your" employees, you'd be cool with that deception? The employees made out better - good for them. That's a lot easier to do when you have a market cap 400 times higher than that of the company you made all these promises to, and then left holding the bag.

Sincere question for you: Do you actually believe that your employees belong to you?

Re: Blood oxygen monitoring returning to Apple Watch in the US

#203

Post by hsbauauvhabzb » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 8:20 PM UTC

thebruce87m wrote: post #14

spogbiper wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

25 employees including the CTO, and then bought a building nearby to Masimo's office for them to work in. At least according to the CEO of Masimo in public statements. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR1o8EoW-Eg

Sounds good for the employees, so go Apple?

They destroyed the founders company and stole their IP in the process though. Let’s not forget there’s actual victims in this story.

Re: Blood oxygen monitoring returning to Apple Watch in the US

#204

Post by scarface_74 » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 8:27 PM UTC

alistairSH wrote: post #139

scarface_74 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate the word “poaching”. A company offered employees more money in exchange for their labor. I see no issue. Would you have preferred what happened in the Jobs era where 7 of the largest tech firms colluded not to hire from each other’s company?

Two things can be bad at once. Apple has a massive war chest they can leverage to crush competition in several ways. As a nation and as consumers, we should at least be wary of what they're doing and whether it stifles competition or innovation. Even if the actions are legal. There's a difference between Apple paying more for engineers in general vs Apple specifically targeting a competitor, acquiring all the talent…

There was no IP to poach. The IP was in a publicly available patent.

Every company that proactively reaches out to an employed individual is doing so because that employee has demonstrated elsewhere and probably at their current job skills and experience that they find valuable and I assume is willing to make a better offer for them.

Other posters said that Masimo was paying developers $140K - $180k. That’s a nothingburger for good developers. The BigTech company I was working for two years ago was offering returning interns about that much in cash + liquid RSUs

I once worked for a startup where everyone loved the CTO, the startup got acquired after I left by a PE company.

When he left to be the CTO of another company in the same vertical, 10 of the employees followed him within the next six months basically taking all of the developers and sales that he wanted and all of the worthwhile staff from the startup. I assume it was for more money.

If I had still been at the startup when he left, he would have easily “poached” me too?

Should that also have been illegal? Was that unethical?

Re: Blood oxygen monitoring returning to Apple Watch in the US

#205

Post by adrr » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 8:28 PM UTC

spogbiper wrote: post #16

thebruce87m wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds good for the employees, so go Apple?

Yes, very good for the employees. Apple even offered them 2x their salaries to leave Masimo.

Masimo never paid well. $100k to $120k for a senior software engineer. 2x sounds good but probably brought them up to average bay area salaries.

Re: Blood oxygen monitoring returning to Apple Watch in the US

#206

Post by adrr » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 8:29 PM UTC

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #118

hbn wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's not forget Masimo picked the fight. Apple was fine letting them compete.

Pardon? Masimo was first and Apple took their tech (as confirmed by a court). Was Masimo supposed to sit there and shrug?

First to what? Sensor was invented in 1972.

Re: Blood oxygen monitoring returning to Apple Watch in the US

#207

Post by adrr » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 8:31 PM UTC

hsbauauvhabzb wrote: post #203

thebruce87m wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds good for the employees, so go Apple?

They destroyed the founders company and stole their IP in the process though. Let’s not forget there’s actual victims in this story.

What did they steal? CEO destroyed his own company when he bought a bunch of highend speaker brands. WTF is a medical device company doing buying consumer audio companies?

Re: Blood oxygen monitoring returning to Apple Watch in the US

#208

Post by adrr » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 8:34 PM UTC

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #108

I never really understood why protecting Massimo in this situation was more important than allowing customers to access a feature in their watch. I get patent law is important, but they seemed more interested in rent-seeking from Apple than actually providing a desirable product that people could benefit from.

Wasn't patent law since decision wasn't decide in court. ITC banned it from imports. I don't understand how a government entity can wield so much power to block sales of product without using the court system. This should have been litigated.

Re: Blood oxygen monitoring returning to Apple Watch in the US

#209

Post by odo1242 » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 8:38 PM UTC

lovich wrote: post #125

yifanl wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why were you never considering them for your blood oxygen measurement needs?

Not the OP but as someone in the same boat. I wasn’t going to buy a device just for blood monitoring. What they produced is valuable to me as a feature of a product but not as a product in of itself

Yea, so if Apple didn’t copy the other company’s work, they’d have been forced to buy devices from or license the other company’s work. So instead of your money for the blood oxygen sensor going to that company, it went to Apple.

Re: Blood oxygen monitoring returning to Apple Watch in the US

#210

Post by FireBeyond » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 8:38 PM UTC

richiebful1 wrote: post #144

eitally wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with your assertion that Masimo has the money to compete. Apple's upside to employing these folks to build the tech into the Apple Watch is FAR, FAR greater than Masimo's potential sales growth for existing pulse ox devices (or patent licenses). With Apple Watches being licensed as medical devices for ECG & pulse ox, this gives clinicians even more reason to leverage them with patients for convenient 24/7…

Masimo sells a health monitoring watch. [1] There is direct competition here. [1]. https://www.masimo.com/products/monitors/masimo-w1-medical-w...

This product WAS generally marketed to the healthcare field, not to people directly.

It was literally described in the page you referenced: "Arm your patients with continuous measurements in a comfortable, lifestyle-friendly wearable—helping you deliver a true telemonitoring experience."

> automates the collection of clinically accurate measurements to help support: -Post-surgical recovery -Chronic care -Patient management

I say "was" because it was possible to buy it as a consumer, but there's still no direct competition, as:

"Please note that all Masimo consumer products have been discontinued. These include:

MightySat® Masimo W1® Sport Watch Opioid Halo™ / Masimo SafetyNet Alert™ Radius T°® Continuous Thermometer Masimo Stork® Vitals, Masimo Stork Vitals+, and Masimo Stork Baby Monitor"