Amazon reportedly has a secretive project lab, which it has dubbed “1492,” with a focal point centered around medical technologies ranging from records-keeping to over-the-air doctors visits and diagnostics. That’s according to unnamed sources claiming to be close to the retail shipping giant, as reported at the source link below. 1492, those sources say, is based out of the company’s headquarters in Seattle Washington and has several divisions covering the software side, and possibly the hardware side, of the medical tech equation. Importantly, it wouldn’t be unusual for Amazon to aim for the fields 1492 is said to encompass. However, it may be best to take the news with a grain of salt, at least until Amazon begins to release or announce products and services that could be tied to the project or an announcement is made about the program.
Sources say that the team that comprises 1492 is, as already mentioned, working on several facets but that the primary focus is on the use of data from medical record systems and how that data can be turned into information to best serve both healthcare recipients and doctors. More to the point, the project wants to make telemedicine – which involves virtual meetings and examinations by doctors over communication mediums. It could also, one source says, lead to innovations across Amazon’s already available products, such as the company’s Alexa-enabled smart devices. That could also imply that new hardware may soon be under development tied to the healthcare industry, although that wasn’t explicitly mentioned.
1492 would certainly not Amazon’s first foray into the medical sciences or health if the speculation turns out to be true. The company recently bought out the prominent health foods retailer, Whole Foods, and has even purportedly begun looking into joining the pharmaceuticals industry. It also wouldn’t be the only one of the major tech corporations looking to innovate in medical technologies. There is, after all, a potentially huge amount of money to be made in finding solutions for the industries that make up healthcare and services. Unfortunately, none of that confirms or refutes the proposition that Amazon is secretly working on solutions at all. In the meantime, it also makes sense that the company would want to keep its project under wraps to prevent any unique innovations created by 1492 from propagating out of competing companies.