The smartphone application market for mobile healthcare will
reach US$ 1.3 billion in 2012 – up from US$ 718 million in 2011. Despite this
substantial growth, the mHealth market is still in an embryonic state –
especially in comparison to the US$ 6 trillion of the overall global healthcare
market. Several factors (esp. smartphone penetration), will continue, however,
to drive mHealth market growth over the next couple of years. These findings
are part of our new Mobile Health Market Report 2011-2016 report.

The increase of revenue stems from downloads, in-app
advertisements, mHealth services, direct transactions and sensor sales. As a
number of big healthcare companies 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) sensors are a growing part of the
landscape.

In 2012 the number of mHealth application users – mobile
users who downloaded a smartphone mHealth application at least once – will
reach 247 million. Compared to the 124 million users who downloaded mHealth
smarthphone applications in 2011, this is a near doubling.

The technical aspects of the healthcare landscape are
changing rapidly and fundamentally. Healthcare data, the number of healthcare
apps and their usage on mobile phones is growing. It is all evolving around
smartphones and sensors attached to the phone.

For more information on the mHealth application market read
our report, Mobile
Health Market Report 2011-2016. The report describes in a detailed 100
pages the impact of smartphone applications on the mHealth industry. It will
help decision makers in the healthcare market to understand the current status
of the market, learn about best practices and get insights on future trends and
market potentials.

Posted by Sean Fenske, Editor-in-Chief, MDT