Apple in Discussions With Private Medicare Plans to Offer Apple Watch to Seniors

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Apple is in talks with at least three private Medicare plans in regards to subsidizing the Apple Watch for people over the age of 65. The news comes from a report today by CNBC, citing sources familiar with Apple's plans.


The discussions are centered around subsidizing the cost of an Apple Watch Series 3 or Series 4 -- which currently start at $279 for the Series 3 38mm Aluminum version -- for older Medicare users who can't afford the cost of the device. Series 4 models would be most beneficial for elderly users, thanks to the new fall detection and ECG features.

Apple's talks with the Medicare companies have not resulted in any official deals yet. The Cupertino company has paid visits to several large insurers in the market, as well as some smaller Medicare Advantage plans, but no specific names of the insurers were given.

“Avoiding one emergency room visit would more than pay for the device,” said Bob Sheehy, CEO of Bright Health, an insurance start-up with a Medicare Advantage plan and the former CEO of United Healthcare.

Apple Watch has been associated with insurance coverage a few times in the past, including discounted versions of the wearable offered to Aetna insurance customers. Apple's device was also integrated into the United Healthcare wellness program, providing participants access to an Apple Watch that they could use to earn up to $1,000 in incentives per year by meeting daily walking goals.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 5

Tag: cnbc.com

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Apple Pay Head Jennifer Bailey to Deliver Keynote at World's Largest Payments Technology Event

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Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey will be the keynote speaker at TRANSACT, the world's largest payments technology event.

Bailey, who leads the Apple Pay team under Apple services chief Eddy Cue, will discuss how Apple is bringing customers and merchants an "easy, convenient, and secure payments experience," according to the announcement.

TRANSACT, hosted by the Electronic Transactions Association, runs April 30 through May 2 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.

Apple Pay has been gradually expanding across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The service launched in Belgium and Kazakhstan in November, made its long-awaited debut in Germany last month, and is "coming soon" in Saudi Arabia. Reports suggest the service will also launch in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Slovenia soon.

Apple Pay first launched in the United States in October 2014 and has since expanded to many regions, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Belgium, China, Singapore, Switzerland, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Russia, New Zealand, Brazil, Poland, Ireland, and Ukraine.

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Westworld Mobile Game Removed From iOS App Store Following Bethesda Dispute

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Warner Bros' Westworld mobile game, which bore a notable resemblance to Bethesda Softworks' Fallout Shelter game for smartphones, has been removed from the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. The removal comes seven months after Bethesda sued Warner Bros by calling the Westworld app a "blatant rip-off" of Bethesda's 2015 game Fallout Shelter.

Westworld on iOS
The lawsuit centered around Behaviour Interactive, the game developer that worked on both Fallout Shelter and Westworld, and who Bethesda accused of breach of contract, copyright infringement, unfair competition, and misappropriation of trade secrets. The dispute continued into the year, and in early January 2019 the companies released a simple one-line statement that said both parties "have amicably resolved" the lawsuit.

After all of this, the @WestworldMobile Twitter account this week released its own statement, noting that the game has been removed from the iOS App Store and Google Play Store as of January 15, 2019. This means players can no longer make in-app purchases. On April 16, 2019, the app will officially close and no longer be supported by the developers. The developers warn players to spend any in-game currency before that date.

via @WestworldMobile
In the original lawsuit, Bethesda requested the Westworld mobile game to be removed from distribution, so it appears that part of the amicable resolution to the case was the official discontinuation of Westworld on iOS and Android. Users on Twitter asked about potential refunds for the in-app purchases they've already made in the game, but the company has yet to respond regarding this matter.

For those unaware, the similarities between Fallout Shelter and Westworld were striking. Both games task the player with building an underground base of some kind, stocked with interactive characters from a well-known property, and micro-managing small tasks to keep their shelter/Delos facility up and running. Most damning for Westworld and Behaviour Interactive was the discovery that the developer appeared to use the same copyrighted computer code from Fallout Shelter inside of Westworld, down to both games having the same unique bug.

Fallout Shelter on iOS
Although Westworld has been removed from the iOS App Store, it still remains online for now, so players who already downloaded it have three months to play the game while it remains online through April 16.

(Thanks, Nate!)

Tags: App Store, Bethesda

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AirPower Referenced in iPhone XS Smart Battery Case Description in Malaysia

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As discovered by MacRumors tipster Sri Ram and others on Twitter, Apple has referenced its long-awaited AirPower charging mat in the product description for its new iPhone XS Smart Battery Case in Malaysia.


Apple released Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR on Tuesday following several rumors.

The listing remains live as of Wednesday morning, noting that the Smart Battery Case is "compatible with AirPower Wireless Charging Mat and other Qi‑certified chargers." The case's description in the United States and other countries we checked only mentions compatibility with Qi-certified chargers.

Apple failed to deliver on its promise of releasing the AirPower in 2018, but a report over the weekend suggested that Apple suppliers Luxshare Precision and Pegatron have or will soon start mass production of the AirPower, with an alleged supply chain source saying it will be released soon.

For the sake of covering all bases, there is a possibility the report about mass production was inaccurate and that Apple prepared the Smart Battery Case product description before abandoning its AirPower plans, but simply forgot to scrub the word AirPower from a single product description in a few countries.

AirPower is not mentioned on any other Smart Battery Case product pages in Malaysia, the United States, or other countries we checked.

Back in October, however, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the AirPower may be released by the early first quarter of 2019, while developer Steve Troughton-Smith recently said he has heard Apple may have overcome technical challenges with the AirPower and could presumably move forward with a release.

Apple has not commented on the AirPower in several months and removed all but a few mentions of the mat from its website following its September 2018 event. AirPower is, however, still referenced in the latest iPhone user guides, in some recent Apple job listings, and in a few recent Apple patent applications.

AirPower would be able to inductively charge multiple Apple devices at once, including the iPhone 8 and newer, Apple Watch Series 3 and newer, and AirPods placed in an as-of-yet unreleased charging case listed as "currently unavailable." Apple unveiled the accessory at its September 2017 event alongside the iPhone X.

Tag: AirPower

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Tim Cook Tweets Story of User's Apple Watch Detecting Atrial Fibrillation

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Apple CEO Tim Cook today shared a story on Twitter of an Apple Watch that alerted its user to atrial fibrillation, potentially saving their life in the process.


Elissa Lombardo tweeted Cook with her husband's experience with Apple Watch that occurred just two days after he started wearing the device.

The smartwatch's ECG feature detected the case of A-Fib during an elevated heart rate, which led her husband to seek medical attention.

Medical professionals apparently discovered a "major blockage" in his arteries but were able to correct the problem, and two days later he was feeling fine again.

According to Lombardo, her husband presented with similar symptoms in the past, but on those occasions he never visited the emergency room to get them checked out.

Glad to hear your husband is feeling better, Elissa. Stories like yours inspire us — thanks for letting us know! https://t.co/A7eV4tgS4U

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) January 16, 2019

This isn't the first time an Apple Watch has potentially saved someone's life. When the ECG feature launched in December in the U.S., TIME published a story about a 46-year-old Texas resident who was having trouble breathing normally.

Fortunately, since he was wearing an Apple Watch and participating in the recent Apple Heart Study, he was alerted to signs of an irregular heartbeat and went to the emergency room.

At the hospital, doctors hooked him up to an ECG machine and found signs of atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat that can lead to stroke and other potentially fatal complications. He spent the next few days in the hospital while doctors returned him to a normal sinus heart rhythm.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 5

Tags: Tim Cook, ECG

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