Apple gave developers tons of new APIs to work with in iPhone OS 3.0, including the ability to have apps talk directly to hardware accessories, but we haven't seen any companies really take advantage of this new functionality beyond simple FM transmitter apps and what have you. Corventis has decided to take a stab at changing this with their proof of concept heart rate monitoring accessory and app.
Fast Company recently reported about a new app and heart rate monitoring accessory that was shown off at this year's Body Computing Conference. The app would not only be able to monitor your heart rate via a patch accessory, but it would also be able to broadcast your heart rate over social networks. The idea of integrating this social networking feature into the app would be to spur the apps use by a younger crowd. Games would be built in to the app that would allow users to send images to another person to see if you can raise their heart rate. The app could also be used in more purposeful ways, like to monitor your heart rate while doing specific activities to see the effect.
Corventis doesn't intend to release the accessory patch and app any time soon, but it does at least give us an idea of what some companies and developers are working on to fully utilize the iPhone's unique capabilities.
Wouldn't you just love this sort of functionality to be built in to your favorite running or bicycling app?
