AppleInsider:

Following many suggestions that Apple is bringing sleep tracking to the Apple Watch, the company appears poised to further delve into its Beddit purchase and develop bedding and blankets to monitor vital signs.

Apple’s proposed solution, then, is effectively to have bedding that tracks the sleep of anyone lying on or under it. This appears to be an extension of Beddit’s system, which saw a strip of material being placed under bedsheets and relaying data to an iPhone.

This extended version appears to suggest that instead of one short strip positioned under one part of a sleeping person’s body, at least a larger portion of the bed would become a sensor.

To be clear, this is a patent application only. This is not a product Apple has announced or even will announce. All the stories written about it are speculation based on the patent application.

But what if?

Would Apple get into the mattress business? Unlikely. But they might get into the mattress pad business. This makes more sense as a sleep tracker for many people than an Apple Watch. For example, I can’t wear my Apple Watch while I sleep but I do have an electric mattress pad for warmth on those cold Canadian winter nights.

And contrary to other reports, it’s unlikely to be a “sheet set” – those are too personal and “individualistic,” as anyone who has gone shopping for sheets with a significant other knows fully well.

I think the odds of this ever becoming a shipping product are next to nil but it’s an interesting idea to entertain.