Jawbone, the mobile phone peripheral manufacturer that announced a $70 million investment round Wednesday, said today that it plans by the end of the year to start selling jewelry containing computers that track health indicators.
The product — called UP — will be an “end-to-end system” with a wristband, a mobile application and a web-enabled platform. The band will track activity like movement and sleep patterns, the application will analyze the data, and the platform will provide motivation “with personal and social recommendations and challenges tailored to your goals,” the company said.
San Francisco-based Jawbone’s CEO, Hosain Rahman, unveiled the initiative at the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.
“We’re passionate about creating products for the mobile lifestyle that people love to use everyday. And now, we’re harnessing that passion to approach a major global issue – health,” Rahman said. “We are focused on creating a highly accessible solution for this particular space that integrates seamlessly into a user’s daily life with the goal of making it absolutely easy for them to live better.”
The company said that according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, “lifestyle diseases” such as heart disease, diabetes, and some forms of cancer cause more deaths than communicable diseases. Research shows eating healthier, getting quality sleep, and moving more can prevent most of those conditions, it said.
Jawbone has in the past made mobile device accessories such as headphones and speakers. On Tuesday, it said it had secured $70 million in funding through J.P. Morgan Asset ManagementbizWatch , bringing the total it has raised to $170 million.
Previous investors have included Khosla Ventures, Sequoia CapitalbizWatch and Andreessen Horowitz, which invested $49 million in March.