[NewsPoster]

Apple's choice of HealthKit as the name for its health tracking platform is stepping on the name of an Australian startup that also deals with health-related services, according to complaints by the latter company. The company has already made multiple Twitter posts on the matter, including one directed at Apple CEO Tim Cook. "Feeling annoyed #Apple is using our #HealthKit name for their new health product! @tim_cook r u aware of this?" it reads.

In a talk with Wired, HealthKit co-founder Alison Hardacre points out that it should've been easy to figure out that the name was already in use. "It is very flattering that they like our name," she says, "but I'm a little let down because how hard would it have been to spend five seconds to put HealthKit.com into their browser and find us? Everybody worries that Google or Apple will come into their space and their business will die, but no one thinks that company will come into that space and use the same name!"

HealthKit bought the rights to its domain name in early 2012, and says it won't let it go. Apple has not responded to public complaints so far.

It's speculated that Apple may have switched to the HealthKit name at the last minute. Although the corresponding iOS 8 app is now just called "Health," most rumors up until this week referred to the app as "Healthbook." Apple is also typically thorough about securing domains before launching a product, whether under its own name or that of a shell company.

[coffeetime]

They should rename it to iHealth. Hopefully no one out there actually use this name already like iSwatch.

[FireWire]

"r u aware" sounds really professional...

[growlf]

It's a framework name - not a product to be marketed to end users. Coremotion.com, coregraphics.com... they exist as well (and, given the number of APIs, probably dozens of others as well).

Time to go through every framework, every method, every class, and add ".com" to the end to make sure it isn't being used somewhere! TIM COOK R U AWARES!!!?

[calier]

HealthKit (just like spriteKit or sceneKit) is the name of the developer API it has nothing to do with the Health App at all.
Unless you're an iOS developer there is little reason why you would hear about it so I don't see where the issue is here.

[Inkling]

Ah, if we could only return to those golden years when all one had to do to avoid trademark issues was to merge two words into one and internally capitalize the second. Now that's the norm. Perhaps Apple would have better luck naming its new feature an old-fashioned Health Kit rather than HealthKit.

[Jeronimo2000]

If you are professional enough to express your annoyance via Twitter, using the highly sophisticated "r u" shorthand to address the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world, surely you were professional enough to patent your ingenious "HealthKit" name from top to bottom.

And no, registering a domain name is NOT the same thing.

[revco]

@FireWire "r u aware" sounds really professional...

Apparently, that's how they talk on Twitter.

[Eriamjh]

BINGO! Healthkit is not a product for sale. Apple doesn't care if there's a company out there using the name. Apple doesn't sell Healthkit to anyone.