At this point, there’s very little that Amazon isn’t involved in, or at least exploring: personal AI assistants, cloud services, TV shows, furniture, groceries … hell, it even finds time to sell the occasional book. So it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to learn that the e-commerce leviathan is reported to be sniffing around the health-care sector, too.
CNBC says that the company has set up a team called, cryptically, 1492 that is researching hardware and software projects relating to health care. High on the list of the topics it’s investigating, says the report, are digital medical records, online doctor appointments, and health-related services for its own hardware, including its Echo smart speakers.
Even so, no tech firm has so far managed to disrupt health care, and the industry remains fit for technological upheaval. It’s worth remembering that Amazon has a key advantage over other firms, with its sophisticated retail and distribution network—indeed, earlier this year, CNBC also reported that Amazon was contemplating a move into selling pharmaceuticals. It may hope to offer a more comprehensive service than Apple or Google could right now.