Samsung Moves To Upstage Apple With New Biometric Data Platform

Samsung is building a “data bank” of people’s biometric information that app developers and researchers can plug into to create clever, health-related services — ideally for Samsung devices. Following the release of its Gear Fit wearable fitness tracker, its new SAMI platform, overseen by a former director of Apple’s Siri, is another step for Samsung into the increasingly consumerized healthcare space, and one that sees it pre-empt what may be a similar, health-related announcements from Apple AAPL +0.03% next week at its WWDC conference for developers.

As well as new software tools for the smart home, Apple will reportedly announce a service called Healthbook, a platform which will most likely be a “closed” software environment where developers must make services for Apple devices only.

It’s probably no coincidence that Samsung is making its announcement just days before that expected announcement, and by contrast making its SAMI platform “free and open” for developers to create services for any device...