According to the mobile research expert research2guidance, 2011 was the first year of substantial business in the market for mobile health services delivered via smartphone applications.

The smartphone application market for mobile health care increased by a factor of seven to reach $718 million in 2011, nevertheless, the mHealth market is still in an embryonic state. Theoretically the market potential is enormous given the overall worldwide health care market size of $6 trillion (WHO estimate) and the potential use cases and benefits for mobile patient health care support.

Within the last year, the growth in the mobile health care market has greatly accelerated. The main drivers for this growth have been the increase in the smartphone user base on the demand side, and the doubling of the number of mHealth applications on the supply side. These findings are part of research2guidance’s new Mobile Health Market Report 2011-2016.

A majority of the big health care companies have discovered mHealth applications as an innovative way to promote and deliver health care services and products. A testament to this is that a number of these large players published mHealth apps in 2011 that go far beyond a simple allergy tracker or pill reminder, e.g. Sanofi Aventis’ sensor-based iBGStar Diabetis monitoring app. (Source: The Mobile Health Market Report, 2011 – 2016)

By MediaBUZZ