Apple’s diabetes watch

APPLE’S next big thing could be great news for the 1.75 million Australians with diabetes.

The giant tech firm is obsessively secretive about yet-tobe-revealed products but CEO Tim Cook started the rumours when he recently announced he was wearing a prototype device that could measure his blood sugar level without the need for the invasive finger prick, and the company hired a bunch of bioengineers with expertise in the area.

It might be years before Apple is ready to bring the device to market – or it could unveil it Tuesday at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, the biggest event in Apple’s calendar.

Little is known about the device but it is likely to use optical sensors to shine a light through the skin to measure glucose.

Apple is not the only player in this field.

Three years ago Google unveiled a prototype contact lens that could test for sugar levels although Google has not yet brought a product to market.

Closer to home, Brisbanebased medical firm Glucotek Inc recently lodged a patent for smart earrings that work as non-invasive blood glucose monitors.

The company is currently finalising a prototype and last month was named the winner of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology entrepreneurial boot camp involving 6000 applicants from 30 countries.

Tamara Mills, of Glucotek Inc, said there was not much she could disclose publicly about the technology because of commercial sensitivity but “our estimated time to market is four years factoring in clinical trials and the US Food and Drug Administration”.