Connected rings are on the rise and this Apple executive has sensed it

Jason Oberfest, head of Apple’s health team, has just joined Oura. Excellent news in perspective for the Scandinavian company, still busy developing its connected rings.

Good news for Oura, bad for Apple, which should however recover easily given the wealth of its workforce. We learned this week that Jason Oberfest, one of the Cupertino giant’s executives assigned to its health division, changed sides to move to Oura, mainly known for its connected rings allowing monitoring of sleep, heart rate and even of the temperature.

On the road to notoriety since the marketing of its first connected rings in 2020, the Finnish group can therefore count on a five-star defector. Having joined Apple in 2018, Jason Oberfest should indeed become responsible for the group’s clinical strategy and its health-related projects, reports the specialist site WatchGeneration.

A turning point for Oura?

“ Jason’s arrival marks the start of a new chapter for Oura », For his part, welcomed Tom Hale, CEO of Oura, in an interview given to Mark Gurman, journalist at Bloomberg, for his Power On newsletter. The manager of Oura explains that his company is now seeking to “ develop quickly » its network of partners, and that the recruitment of Jason Oberfest is notably “ intended to dive deeper into the world of healthcare “.

Still, Oura could find a major obstacle in its path: Samsung. In recent months, rumors have multiplied to announce the imminent arrival of a connected ring from the Korean giant. Called Galaxy Ring according to some sources, the accessory would be launched next year.

In any case, and for context, Jason Oberfest probably participated, at Apple, in the development of functionalities relating to the Treatments application on the Apple Watch, acting as a digital pillbox. It will be interesting to discover the contribution of this expert to Oura’s strategy, but also to the functionalities integrated into the various products of the Scandinavian brand.