Mobile Healthcare Market to Grow Tenfold by 2018

According to a recently released report by healthcare industry analysts GlobalData, mobile health devices that allow patient consultation and monitoring, among other benefits, are surging in popularity as the spread of smartphones and tablets expands. The latest research published in Telehealth and Telemedicine – Global Opportunity Assessment, Competitive Landscape and Market Forecasts to 2018 states that the global mHealth market was worth $1.2 billion in 2011, but will increase to reach $11.8 billion by 2018, climbing at an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 39%.

According to a press release, GlobalData attributes the substantial predicted growth to the widespread use of mobile phones that allow faster, easier and broader access to healthcare services. Products such as the iPhone, as well as Android and Blackberry platform devices all offer ‘apps’ that cover a wide spectrum of healthcare topics – from fitness and nutrition, to diagnostic imaging.

The large majority of the mHealth market is taken up by software and services, accounting for 80% of the total. The two other sections of the industry are hardware, which makes up 12% of the market, and network and connectivity, which occupies the remaining 8%.

The software and services portion of the industry is driven by rapidly emerging health apps designed to fill key gaps in the mobile healthcare market. Approximately 70% of available healthcare apps are consumer focused, while the remaining 30% are designed for medical professionals – the latter of which are typically more sophisticated and can offer clinicians access to patient information and the ability to conduct further analysis such as creating 3D anatomical models.

The US is the main market for mHealth solutions and made a contribution of $660m to the global market in 2011. Europe and the Asia-Pacific region contributed $420m and $120m, respectively.

Source: GlobalData

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Tags: GlobalData, mHealth