Consumer wellness products, including those that link medical devices to smartphones, will drive the global market for mobile healthcare, a new report says. "We foresee a development where health and medical monitors are networked to the personal handset via Bluetooth or other short-range technologies," explains Tobias Ryberg, senior analyst at Berg Insight, the Swedish research firm that released the study. "There will also be a plethora of health-related smartphone apps that will be able to receive and analyze data from medical devices," Tobias adds, noting that health applications for the iPhone remain among the fastest-growing categories in the Apple App Store.
The report recommends that mobile phone manufacturers and service providers collaborate with makers of medical equipment to help maximize the value of new mobile technologies in healthcare. Standards organizations like the Continua Health Alliance also have a central role to play in assuring interoperability between smartphones and medical devices.
For more information about this study:
- have a look at this TMCNet article