been good. On a daily basis at Qualcomm you see participants taking the stairs instead of the elevator, tweeting about their workouts, and genuinely focusing more on their activity. The real-time feedback from wireless health devices provides additional motivation throughout the day. Personally, the BodyMedia armband has been helpful because I bring it everywhere with me. In the past two weeks I have traveled to London, back to San Diego, and to the East Coast for business. Being able to monitor my activity during lengthy travel is eye-opening.
X: And supposing this gets rolled out to the rest of Qualcomm, and then to other big companies, do you see it becoming a competition, like “The Biggest Loser”?
DJ: The plan is to roll out a wireless health program offering to the rest of Qualcomm employees, and eventually broaden it to corporations in several geographical regions and industry sectors. We want to highlight how wireless technologies enable new connected health applications and services, which will transform the way we go about managing our own fitness and wellness. By collecting and mashing up data from multiple devices, you can create personal feedback dashboards and incentives that are both relevant and unique to individual consumers.
X: How are the teams organized?
DJ: 32 members of the wireless health team are participating in the Qualcomm Wireless Fitness Challenge. Spanning 4 countries and 3 continents, we have interns and executives competing against one another to increase activity and weight loss to improve overall health.
Asked for an update this morning, Ponder says via e-mail: “We are almost halfway done and no mutinies so far. We plan to put out a video blog with testimonials from a few participants this week (likely tomorrow) and I am currently pulling together stats on the total calories burned/pounds lost for all participants…I had a big day because my wife and I ran/walked about 7 miles and then ran a bunch of errands, but don’t reveal my secrets to the rest of the competitors.
