Apple (AAPL - Free Report) was recently sued by a New York University cardiologist over Apple Watch’s use of his patented heartbeat monitoring invention, per Bloomberg.
A suit was filed by Dr. Joseph Wiesel, a teacher at NYU School of Medicine, claiming the Apple Watch infringes his patent for a method to detect an irregular heartbeat.
The doctor said he first contacted Apple in September 2017, giving the California-based tech giant detailed information about the patent. The company refused to negotiate, which led to the lawsuit being filed.
The doctor wants the court to order Apple to pay him royalties and to block the company from using his invention without permission.
Will the Lawsuit to Hurt Apple Watch Sales?
The news comes at a time when Apple’s smartwatches are witnessing increased adoption in the market.
Notably, per Strategy Analytics data, 6.8 million smartwatches were shipped by the company in third quarter 2019, up 51% from the year-ago quarter figure of 4.5 million units.
This was largely driven by Apple’s focus on integrating health monitoring features in its watches due to growing awareness about health and fitness among consumers.
Notably, Apple Watch Series 5, which released in September, comes with added features like Cycle Tracking, the Noise app and Activity Trends.
The removal of the heartbeat monitoring feature could turn out to be a huge blow for the product, which is known to have saved multiple lives in the past. Thus, it is crucial for the company to reach a settlement with the doctor in case the lawsuit turns out to be legitimate.
Intensifying Competition
Apple is facing competition in the fitness smartwatch segment from companies like Fitbit , Garmin (GRMN - Free Report) and Samsung, which are gaining traction in the market.
Notably, Fitbit, which was acquired by Alphabet’s (GOOGL - Free Report) Google in November, launched the Versa 2 smartwatch, which comes with features like Sleep Score, Smart wake and estimated oxygen variation graph while Garmin rolled out Vivoactive 4 and 4S smartwatches with features like advanced sleep tracking, respiration tracking and Body Battery energy monitoring.
Moreover, Samsung is rapidly penetrating the fitness tracking smartwatch space with its expanding family of Galaxy Watches.
Although Apple currently dominates the smartwatch segment, the loss of key features like heartbeat monitoring could hurt its competitive position in the long run.
Zack Rank
Apple currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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Apple (AAPL - Free Report) was recently sued by a New York University cardiologist over Apple Watch’s use of his patented heartbeat monitoring invention, per Bloomberg.
A suit was filed by Dr. Joseph Wiesel, a teacher at NYU School of Medicine, claiming the Apple Watch infringes his patent for a method to detect an irregular heartbeat.
The doctor said he first contacted Apple in September 2017, giving the California-based tech giant detailed information about the patent. The company refused to negotiate, which led to the lawsuit being filed.
The doctor wants the court to order Apple to pay him royalties and to block the company from using his invention without permission.
Will the Lawsuit to Hurt Apple Watch Sales?
The news comes at a time when Apple’s smartwatches are witnessing increased adoption in the market.
Notably, per Strategy Analytics data, 6.8 million smartwatches were shipped by the company in third quarter 2019, up 51% from the year-ago quarter figure of 4.5 million units.
This was largely driven by Apple’s focus on integrating health monitoring features in its watches due to growing awareness about health and fitness among consumers.
Notably, Apple Watch Series 5, which released in September, comes with added features like Cycle Tracking, the Noise app and Activity Trends.
The removal of the heartbeat monitoring feature could turn out to be a huge blow for the product, which is known to have saved multiple lives in the past. Thus, it is crucial for the company to reach a settlement with the doctor in case the lawsuit turns out to be legitimate.
Intensifying Competition
Apple is facing competition in the fitness smartwatch segment from companies like Fitbit , Garmin (GRMN - Free Report) and Samsung, which are gaining traction in the market.
Notably, Fitbit, which was acquired by Alphabet’s (GOOGL - Free Report) Google in November, launched the Versa 2 smartwatch, which comes with features like Sleep Score, Smart wake and estimated oxygen variation graph while Garmin rolled out Vivoactive 4 and 4S smartwatches with features like advanced sleep tracking, respiration tracking and Body Battery energy monitoring.
Moreover, Samsung is rapidly penetrating the fitness tracking smartwatch space with its expanding family of Galaxy Watches.
Although Apple currently dominates the smartwatch segment, the loss of key features like heartbeat monitoring could hurt its competitive position in the long run.
Zack Rank
Apple currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through Q3 2019, while the S&P 500 gained +39.6%, five of our strategies returned +51.8%, +57.5%, +96.9%, +119.0%, and even +158.9%.
This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – Q3 2019, while the S&P averaged +5.6% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +54.1% per year.
See their latest picks free >>
Zacks Names "Single Best Pick to Double"
From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.
It’s a little-known chemical company that’s up 65% over last year, yet still dirt cheap. With unrelenting demand, soaring 2022 earnings estimates, and $1.5 billion for repurchasing shares, retail investors could jump in at any time.
This company could rival or surpass other recent Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Boston Beer Company which shot up +143.0% in little more than 9 months and NVIDIA which boomed +175.9% in one year.
Free: See Our Top Stock and 4 Runners Up >>
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