Google expected to launch health data tracking platform

All the major tech firms appear to be engaged in developing fitness and health tracking platforms and Google is about to join the competition.

The search engine and advertising behemoth is reportedly preparing to release a health data aggregation service, which will collate and manage information from fitness and health tracker apps, called Google Fit.

Earlier this month, Apple announced that it plans to ship a health app as part of iOS 8. It also introduced a service called HealthKit to allow developers to create apps that use health data for Apple and third-party devices. Microsoft meanwhile has introduced a web-based platform called HealthVault.

Google is expected to launch the service at its annual developers conference in San Francisco this week. The event will offer presentations on new innovations in software and hardware, as well as a number of breakout sessions with technical content, such as “What’s new in Android” and “Wearable computing with Google”.

Google will also reportedly launch Android TV at the conference. Android TV is percieved to be a replacement for Google TV, which was launched in 2010. Instead of focusing on television apps, it will feature online media services and games. Video streaming services, such as Netflix and Hulu Plus, are also expected to be available on Android TV.