--- description: Apple has acquired a California-based startup that's been working on a platform for users to store and manage their personal health data. title: Apple's Latest Acquisition Gives a Hint Towards its Future image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56e060240509d96a/69889f86fb4eac14a888e791/160726_inv_apple.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [mergers and acquisitions](/tag/mergers-and-acquisitions/) ## mergers and acquisitions Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Apple's Latest Acquisition Gives a Hint Towards its Future ## Video: Apple's Iconic Product Releases of the Past [Watch (HLS stream): Apple's Iconic Product Releases of the Past](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dgZyU3Dp.m3u8) (1:41)  _Published 2014-09-08. Take A Look Back at Apple's 7 Biggest Product Releases_  by [Alex Fitzpatrick](/author/alex-fitzpatrick/)  ## Alex Fitzpatrick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 22, 2016 1:42 PM CUT  Apple CEO Tim Cook Apple CEO Tim CookJustin Sullivan—Getty Images  by [Alex Fitzpatrick](/author/alex-fitzpatrick/)  ## Alex Fitzpatrick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 22, 2016 1:42 PM CUT Apple has acquired a California-based startup that’s been working on a platform for users to store and manage their personal health data, _Fast Company_ [reports](http://www.fastcompany.com/3062865/tim-cooks-apple/apple-acquires-personal-health-data-startup-gliimpse "undefined"). The acquisition happened earlier this year; the company is just now confirming it. The startup, Gliimpse, was relatively small, having only $1 million in funding since launching in 2013, [according](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/gliimpse#/entity "undefined") to CrunchBase. And Apple did not reveal terms of the deal, instead offering _FastCo_ the company’s boilerplate acquisition comment: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.” That said, Apple’s interest in the firm is another signal of the company’s growing interest in personal health and wellbeing. The company has already rolled out health software like HealthKit (which aims to provide users a one-stop-shop for their personal health data) and ResearchKit (designed to let researchers gather data from subject’s devices). The Apple Watch, meanwhile, is [rumored](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-18/apple-said-to-hit-roadblocks-in-cutting-watch-ties-to-iphone "undefined") to be getting a big health-oriented revamp in the coming weeks. What explains Apple’s healthcare projects? The company’s CEO, Tim Cook, has offered two reasons in recent interviews. First, the death of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs clearly impacted Cook on a personal level, perhaps driving the company’s efforts. “I know this sounds probably bizarre at this point, but I had convinced myself that he would bounce, because he always did,” said Cook of his predecessor in an interview with The Washington _Post._ (Cook [volunteered](http://www.fastcompany.com/3043628/apple-ceo-tim-cook-tried-to-give-steve-jobs-his-liver-but-jobs-refused "undefined") to donate a piece of his liver to the ailing Jobs; Jobs refused the offer.) But Cook also spies a business opportunity in the [nearly $3 trillion](http://fortune.com/2015/01/21/americas-new-healthcare-economy-3-trends-to-watch/ "undefined") healthcare industry as the company faces [flagging hardware sales](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-26/apple-forecasts-another-sales-decline-as-iphone-demand-cools "undefined"). Here’s an excerpt from another recent Cook [interview](http://www.fastcompany.com/3063006/why-on-earth-is-google-building-a-new-operating-system-from-scratch "undefined"), this one with _FastCo’s_ Rick Tetzeli: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4461047/apple-gliimpse-acquisition/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4461047/apple-gliimpse-acquisition/"},"headline":"Apple's Latest Acquisition Gives a Hint Towards its Future","datePublished":"2016-08-22T13:42:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:50:24.687Z","description":"Healthcare is the company's next big move","url":"https://time.com/4461047/apple-gliimpse-acquisition/","keywords":["mergers and acquisitions","Tech","Apple"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56e060240509d96a/69889f86fb4eac14a888e791/160726_inv_apple.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Fitzpatrick","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-fitzpatrick/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56e060240509d96a/69889f86fb4eac14a888e791/160726_inv_apple.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"160726_inv_apple","caption":"160726_inv_apple","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/mergers-and-acquisitions/","name":"mergers and acquisitions"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4461047/apple-gliimpse-acquisition/","name":"Apple's Latest Acquisition Gives a Hint Towards its Future"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Apple's Iconic Product Releases of the Past","description":"Take A Look Back at Apple's 7 Biggest Product Releases","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/dgZyU3Dp/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-08T18:16:08.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dgZyU3Dp.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4461047/apple-gliimpse-acquisition/","duration":"PT1M41S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4461047/apple-gliimpse-acquisition/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```