BERLIN, Germany -- 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 (especially smartphone penetration), will continue 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.