christina farr, health and technology reporter for cnbc.com, broke the story and joins us now from san francisco. christina, welcome, congratulations on the scoop. what have you heard about amazon's intentions and why are they considering this now? >> reporter: amazon has been thinking for a long time about breaking into the pharmacy market. but now it seems to be getting serious. our sources are telling us that amazon is hiring a gm to lead a business unit, and they will strategize how exactly amazon can break into this market. >> amazon has been selling drugs or trying to sell prescription drugs in japan. would that be like a test market for them before they come to the united states? >> reporter: absolutely. we were able to dig up this page in japan that shows that they were starting to sell drugs there, along with things like cosmetics. if it takes off in japan, it's possible they could bring that to the u.s. next. and it's something we've seen amazon do time and time again. they try out an experimental new product somewhere else, and then bring it here. >> how concerned are they a

telling christina farr that tim cook has been testing a vice connected to an apple watch that trackslood sugar levels after we brought you reports that apple is working on a holy grail device for diabetes. guys, interesting for sure. and certainly important to the community of people looking to manage their diabetes. but does not strike me as a mass market, everybody's got to go buy an apple watch now situation. >> no. is it expandible to other specific applications? in other words, is it going to be a platform for other health-related apps or functions? i don't know if that will be the big thing. >> what's the alternative? sticking yourself with a needle a few times a day? that's a pretty amazing feat if they can pull that off. i think that's what tim cook said about it before. >> what's interesting is that tim cook has said apple has tried to avoid getting into highly regulated areas. they like the freedom to sell what they want when they want. if they're getting into an area like this, and making medical devices it's a new -- >> whole different ball game. we will watch that. we al