File Picture Illustration of Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab and Apple's iPad in Seoul
IN PHOTO: Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab (front) and Apple's iPad are seen in Seoul, in this May 13, 2013 file picture illustration. REUTERS

Samsung Electronics is rumored to be joining hands with American sportswear maker Under Armour to create a wearable fitness tracker. According to Korean source Yonhap News Agency, there is lot of interest and speculation in the market regarding the recent meeting between Samsung's Lee Jay-yong and Under Armour CEO Kelvin Plank. It is understood that they have discussed strategies for a collaboration to bring out Samsung's Health Tracker project.

Nike-Apple Alliance

The duo of Samsung and Under Armour hope to take on Nike-Apple alliance in the growing wearables market. Nike and Apple joined hands in 2006 when they unveiled the Nike + iPod Sport Kit that tracks workout data, accessible via iOS devices. Recently Nike+ was bestowed the privilege of being the first third-party apps to integrate HealthKit, Apple's new health platform.

Under Armour had acquired MapMyFitness that partnered with Samsung for one of the sports related features in the Galaxy S5 project.

Wearable Concept Simbad

According to a report in Live Science, Samsung had been mounting its prototype of investigational wearable called Simbad since May this with the provision for built in health sensors.

Samsung is envisaging a very advanced system to check the body and get all the information as in a dashboard summary showing vital signs and wellness indices before one goes to see a doctor. It must be solution oriented and tell a person how much new exercise regimen is required to decrease the risk of a heart attack.

Personalized Medicine

Such advanced tools have not hit the market yet. But Samsung says it wants to bring the world closer to such an era of wearable technology for personalized medicine.

In Samsung's scheme of things a wrist-worn fitness tracker should aggregate all the measurements from various devices. The fitness tracker and software platform must be open so that third parties can access them and build new sensors or design new applications to analyze the health data.

Accelerate Innovation

According to Young Sohn, strategy officer at Samsung, the idea behind Simband is to provide a platform that can accelerate innovation. Simband can be charged with an attached shuttle battery that a user can wear with the device.