Watch out Alexa
One of the best Miller Lite commercials ever was called the cat fight, well it seems another cat fight is brewing in our wacky world. Say hello to Sophia from Novo Nordisk. Yep Sophia is Novo’s answer to snarky Alexa and her current rival Siri. And before we go any further we really think Google should come up with a female name for their digital assistant. One more thing why is it that all these digital assistants are female, what female patient doesn’t want to converse with Bruno or Fabio? But we digress.
Anyway, we can just hear it now as these digital assistants all battle for diabetes coaching supremacy. A battle that’s going to get very interesting now that we know Amazon is making the deep dive into diabetes staring with BGM. Think of the possibilities should Apple actually get their way cool whiz bang non-invasive CGM to work. Now we doubt this will happen but imagine if it did. And even if they don’t get it to work Apple and Dexcom are getting very close.
Think about this possible exchange;
Alexa: Hey David sorry to bother you this morning but wanted to let you know that we know have a way call whiz bang conventional glucose monitor for you. So, in addition to helping you order more Tide I can help you manage your diabetes more effectively. Want to give it a try?
Siri: Alexa you should know that David wears the Dexcom G6 CGM and I’m helping him manage his diabetes. So why don’t you just stick with Tide.
Alexa: Ok maybe David isn’t a candidate for our way cool whiz bang BGM but there are more 100 million Prime members many of whom with diabetes, so I think I’ll be helpful to those patients.
Siri: That may be true but tell me this just how much help can you offer when patients using BGM rarely test. Do you not need data before you can offer any help at all?
Alexa: Well I understand that’s how it is today but with me around to remind them to test I’ll get the data I need so I can help them.
Siri: Good luck with that girl. See that’s the beauty of a CGM once it’s on the patient doesn’t do anything and there are no fingersticks.
Alexa: That may be true but CGM is more expensive than BGM and our system is pretty damn cheap.
Siri: Well that may true today but pretty soon Dexcom and Google will have a slap it on turn it on CGM that will be priced on par with conventional test strips.
Alexa; Wait did I hear you right your going to be working with Google.
Siri: Crazy isn’t it but Dexcom makes the best CGM on the planet their partnered with Google and truth be told our way cool whiz bang non-invasive CGM doesn’t work and likely never will. So yep this wacky world makes some strange bedfellows – kind of kinky too.
Alexa: Well I heard of something called the Libre maybe I’ll work with that.
Siri: You can try but Libre doesn’t talk to you or anything else for that matter.
Alexa: That seems kind of stupid why not?
Siri: Well the geniuses at Abbott seem to think that patients want to carry around a device to capture readings and even that device has no connectivity.
Alexa: Wait are you telling me the Libre isn’t a true CGM? Why the hell are so many people using it?
Siri: Well it’s long story but as David says all the time this is about money and the Libre is cheap. It won’t be like that for long which is why we’re in bed – so to speak – with Dexcom.
Alexa: What happens if Abbott gets with the program and makes Libre a real CGM what then?
Siri: Oh, come on girl your pretty smart what always happens in this space, a price war breaks out.
Alexa: Wait doesn’t Medtronic also have one of these things?
Siri: Well sort of the only problem is both the Dexcom and Libre are well ahead of the Guardian Connect and that system requires fingerstick calibrations.
Alexa: That also seems kind of stupid why would Medtronic launch that when they are already so far behind?
Siri: Two reasons the CGM market is growing and second, they really didn’t have choice they were tooled up already.
Alexa: Aren’t there a gazillion of other way cool whiz bang toys that claim to do the same thing we do?
Siri: You got that right girl, but they don’t have what we do; huge scale and big bucks.
Alexa: Yeah that is true we’re lucky as we don’t need diabetes to make money we’ll make tons of money regardless.
Siri: Well it’s been nice chatting with you girl and glad we can be civil when we talk. Good luck with the BGM system I’m pretty sure it will do just fine as there is a place for it and I know it’s just your first lap in the diabetes pool. I have this feeling you and I will be adding more stuff for all these people with diabetes as damn it’s a huge market.
Alexa: Yes, it is nice to be civil and your right this is a huge market. And like you said before with our scale and bucks we stand a better chance than all these other idiots.
