While reading the updated Pokemon GO website I noticed that there’s a portion of the description that says,
“Get on your feet and step outside to find and catch wild Pokémon. Explore cities and towns around where you live and even around the globe to capture as many Pokémon as you can. As you move around, your smartphone will vibrate to let you know you’re near a Pokémon.”
The choice of words in this section is interesting because the tone suggests that we’re all a bunch of couch potatoes and that going on a Pokémon quest will provide motivation enough for us to get our collective lazy asses off the couch and go see the world. Even though it is possible that I am reading too much into it, let's not forget that Shigeru Miyamoto designed the SNES so that Americans wouldn't put their sodas on top of the device. Regardless, reading this immediately brought to mind Nintendo’s quality of life initiative which Nintendo President, Tatsumi Kimishima, already said is still in the works.
It doesn’t sound too far-fetched that this could mark Nintendo’s foray into the health and medical software business if we take into consideration that the company already has plans to update its articles of incorporation this June to include business ventures into the manufacture and sale of medical devices and health devices, as well as, development, manufacturing, and sale of computer software, amongst other things.
Current health-related apps already make use of two things that Pokémon GO will have access to, first, your phone which inherently gives it physical access to you at almost all times, and secondly, all the internal phone technology that gives it access to a GPS, metrics on your levels of activity through fine-tuned accelerometers, and in some cases even your heart rate. Additionally, you’ll be able to purchase the Pokémon GO Plus which is a Fitbit-like device that will connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth to allow you to perform a number of simple in-game actions. Although not stated in the product description, it may have yet unannounced functions and perform similar tasks to those of a fitness tracker device.
This is all speculation, of course, and the reality may be that Nintendo hasn’t even thought about the possibility of using Pokémon GO in such a way, in which case, Nintendo if you’re reading this, you're welcome!
