Time to work out with your Apple iWatch

Beijing, February 9: Apple is making its smartwatch one step closer to pervasiveness, by enabling the Apple Watch to connect with gym equipment so consumers can more accurately track how they work out. This was enabled by Apple's solution GymKit, which was officially launched in China on Thursday.

 

By integrating the Apple Watch with popular equipment like treadmills, indoor bikes and stair-steppers, Apple hopes consumers can get a better picture of calories burned based on factors like their weight and the intensity of the workout.

It is part of the United States giant's broader push to make smart-watches more versatile, and increase its appeal to sports enthusiasts. The aim was to simplify the cardio machine experience and make it more accurate than ever before. With a quick tap on your favorite cardio equipment, you can see two-way data exchange in real time that will result in the most accurate measurements possible with less device management.

The Apple Watch solution can be more precise when compared with data such as heart rates logged by high-end gym equipment, And more importantly, data can transfer between the two machines, so when Apple Watch customers view metrics during their workout, the metrics on the machine match what they see on their wrist. When users finish their workout, the data on the gym equipment will also be automatically deleted.

The cost of making the company's gym equipment GymKit compatible is very low, which will fuel the popularity of Apple Watch at gymnasiums. According to market research, shipments of Apple Watch surged by more than 54 % on year, with the latest Series 3 version being the key growth driver, hitting about 9 million units.