Singapore and Apple have cooked up a scheme that will see the city-state’s citizens rewarded with gift vouchers if they wear the Apple Watch as part of a national health promotion programme.
To score any rewards Singaporeans will need to download and use an Apple Watch app called LumiHealth that delivers “weekly activity goals, wellness challenges and nudges that cover nutrition, sleep, mental wellbeing, and more, tailored to your health goals and Apple Watch activity.”
Ticking all the boxes over a two-year period can see users eligible for up to S$380 (US$280) in “HPB eVouchers”, gift vouchers issued by Singapore’s Ministry of Health and redeemable at some shopping malls and merchants.
The newest and cheapest Apple Watch SE sells for $419, so compliance with the program covers more than 90 per cent of the device’s cost.
While China is forcing mass surveillance on its citizen, Singapore is bribing it into existence.
Google and Facebook are already doing this – giving us a free service in exchange for our data. So far is it is (despite what alarmists say) fairly innocuous, they show ads for things it seems like you are interested in. They haven’t yet modified our behaviour…
It horrifies me that citizens could be judged by how many steps per day they take. Or even penalised. That we all must abide by some homogenised ideal.
Slippery slope people – don’t accept the free watch.
