SILICON VALLEY -- Apple is getting set to move to its next stage of growth with a wearable health-monitoring device, hoping to establish a solid foothold in the promising healthcare sector.

The U.S. firm said Thursday at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference that it will this autumn bring to market an upgraded mobile operating system for smartphones and tablet devices. The new watch-like wearable gear will run on this OS, which will be equipped with a centralized function to manage users' biometric information via smartphones. It is expected to hit the market in October.