Apple is already gearing up for the Apple Watch online sales ban

I'm gonna be the FIRST to say it, but if you like, need, or depend upon the blood oxygen feature in your Apple Watch Series 9 or otherwise, I would NOT update WatchOS after today until this situation is resolved.  You may lose it.

Is it being alarmist?  Sure.  So what?  Going a few days or weeks without updating your watch isn't like a big risk to anyone.   It's your choice.  It's your watch.

I got my ultra 2 two weeks ago just in case. 

jfabula1 said:

Biden administration, sleeping on watch again….

Not at all. Giving the ITC authority to halt imports of products that it deems to be detrimental to US businesses was put in place long before the current administration. It's all part of the desire to provide protection of US companies from unfair practices from overseas producers. Many US business leaders asked for this type of protection. If a president overrides the ITC process it essentially neuters the whole point of having the ITC in place and can easily be construed as political favoritism, which is why a presidential veto is very rare.

If the Apple Watch was manufactured and assembled in the US this dispute would be outside of the ITC's purview the dispute would be handled by the US patent and trademark office (and ultimately the courts). The patent office has already deemed the patents in question to be invalid. The patent holder obviously does not agree with the patent office and has filed an appeal to their ruling. Lacking the ITC this dispute would play out over many years with claims and counterclaims going both ways. The ITC's marching orders are to settle these cases with the utmost urgency. Whether they are ultimately right or wrong is yet to be determined. They are compelled to act, right or wrong. In this case they feel that they are right and aren't willing to wait for the dispute to be settled by the patent office on the patent office's timeline.

In essence, we (Americans) asked to have a guard dog put in place at our trade border for our protection. Anyone coming through the gate is subject to scrutiny and can be bit by the dog if they appear to be a threat, even when it's one of the most valued American companies that's bringing in product they manufacture overseas. The process is what it is and nobody is exempt even though it appears that in this case the guard dog is biting a family member who is coming through the gate. 

Rather than throwing out the ITC process, getting rid of the guard dog, which a presidential veto essentially does, maybe we need to come up with a way for the ITC and the USPTO to operate more harmoniously and faster so we don't end up with conflicting priorities leading to conflicting and  controversial decisions. But getting multiple government agencies to interoperate together in an efficient and effective manner is a very tall order.  Do you really want to get rid of the guard dog, or worse yet, turn the president into the guard dog? 

It is not like the pulse oximeter in the watch was all that accurate anyway.  A $50 pulse oximeter from CVS is the most accurate, and those are the same monitoring devices used at a doctor's office, from your fingertip, not your wrist.

Apple should push out a software update to disable the sensor and then not have a sensor in future watches.  Remember, Apple cannot market the Apple Watch as a medical device, so they have to tread lightly in what they put in it, and the claims they make about the watch features.

eriamjh said:

I'm gonna be the FIRST to say it, but if you like, need, or depend upon the blood oxygen feature in your Apple Watch Series 9 or otherwise, I would NOT update WatchOS after today until this situation is resolved.  You may lose it.

Is it being alarmist?  Sure.  So what?  Going a few days or weeks without updating your watch isn't like a big risk to anyone.   It's your choice.  It's your watch.

If you need or depend on pulse oximetry you shouldn't be depending on an Apple Watch.