The mHealth market will be driven by consumer wellness products in the years to come, a new research report from
Berg Insight, an analyst firm offering premier business intelligence to the telecom industry,
found.
The term mHealth is used for medical health practice supported by mobile devices, such as mobile phones and patient monitoring devices.
Although manufacturers of medical monitoring equipment have begun to adopt wireless technology it will be sometime before remote monitoring becomes a standard procedure in the healthcare sector. Berg Insight expects consumer-oriented health applications to take the lead in the mHealth segment.
Tobias Ryberg, senior analyst, Berg Insight, said that officials will see a time when health and medical monitors will be networked to the personal handset via Bluetooth or other short-range technologies.
The market will also offer a large number of health-related smartphone apps that will be able to receive and analyze data from medical devices. Ryberg said health applications as one of the fastest growing applications categories on Apple's AppStore.
The analyst firm suggests handset manufacturers and mobile operators to work closely with leading suppliers of health and medical equipment. They hope this cooperation will create offerings that take advantage of the opportunities with mobile communication.
Berg Insight adds that standardization bodies such as the Continua Health Alliance will play an important role in creating interoperability between medical devices and mobile handsets. Application developers will thus be able to create intelligent smart phone apps that help mobile subscribers keep track of their personal health.
Anuradha Shukla is a contributing editor for HealthTechZone. To read more of Anuradha’s article, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Amy Tierney
