THE NEXT BIG THING?

AliveCor Turns iPhone Into Heart Monitor

With sophisticated geo-location technology, smartphones can tell us in great detail what's going on around us. One company wants smartphones to give us a view of what's happening inside our bodies, too. San Francisco-based AliveCor Inc. has developed applications that convert the iPhone or other smartphones into an electrocardiogram monitor, a medical tool that displays heart rate and heart rhythm. Hardware component fits over the phone like a case and features electrodes that a user can hold to his chest or in his hand. Thethat feed information to the phone app, which displays the heart rate on the phone in an easily recognized format.The phone wirelessly beams the heart readings to a secured database for analyzing, Chief Executive Judy Wade said.Veterinarians also are a target market for the product, Ms. Wade said. To get heart readings from dogs, cats, horses and other animals, vets usually need to shave the animals' fur to get the sensor nearer to the pulse of the heart. But AliveCor's product can read heart rhythm through the fur, she said. She expects that animals could make up as much as 10% of the company's total business in the future.