Tech giants bet on biometrics

The consumer technology companies that own desktop software, Web search, and mobile phones have set themselves a new goal. They're aiming to carve themselves a slice of health care, the US $3 trillion industry that represents nearly a fifth of the U.S. economy. The heavyweight corporate muscle behind the vision comes from Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung, which have all launched e-health initiatives, mostly based around smartphones and wearables. Indeed, the fast growing health care business would seem a natural next step for the tech giants. Technology, including the sort of high-volume digital technology inside smartphones, is playing an increasingly important role in health care. And billions of dollars are now being spent converting the paper-based charts that doctors have long used into modern digital records. Apple and its rivals want to capitalize on your personal health data, but is there really money in it?