Bluetooth-powered body scale launched

iHealth, makers of a Bluetooth blood pressure monitor for your iPhone, launched a Bluetooth-enabled iHealth Digital Scale this week.

iHealth, makers of a Bluetooth blood pressure monitor for your iPhone, launched a Bluetooth-enabled iHealth Digital Scale this week.

iHealth Digital Scale offers similar features to the Withings model and is available for purchase on ihealth99.com, or in major retail chains in the US, such as Target and Best Buy, for $69.95.

While the new scale competes with the already released Withings WiFi Body Scale, unlike iHealth, Withings has also partnered with other companies' wellness devices, including RunKeeper's Health Graph and Fitbit and Zeo. Whether or not iHealth plans to do the same in the future remains to be seen.

Using an iPhone or iPad, iHealth users can record and upload weight via Bluetooth to a free app, then aggregate the info for data-crunching, or upload details to doctors or social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

iHealth also soon expects to launch its iBaby Monitor at a price of $199.95. High-tech baby monitors are an emerging trend, and the iBaby version lets parents remotely monitor their children on their iPhone via an app.

The new gagdet serves up competition to the likes of Evoz, a beta-version app that allows parents to listen to their baby from their iPhone or iPad from anywhere in the world, or to watch them using a WiFi-connected monitor.