Comprising a wide range of mobile hardware, software, and professional services offerings, the global mHealth market will grow at a CAGR of over 15% to surpass $8B in revenues in 2016.
Drivers of mHealth Market Growth Include:
Regional Adoption
- While unlikely to threaten the Americas' hold on overall revenues in the mHealth market, the
APAC region is leading the market with a CAGR of 17.6% through 2016. And yet, the APAC market will not be attractive for traditional mHealth vendors, with rugged device platforms and Windows Embedded systems.
- Rather, much of the growth in the mHealth market in APAC (as in other emerging economies e.g. Africa) will be driven by consumer use of smartphone and tablet computers to expand regional health care access to remote regions. Increasingly ubiquitous wireless networks and low-priced consumer grade technologies are facilitating medical access for poor and rural populations.
mHealth Market Not Immune to BYOD's Spread
- Despite strict regulatory oversight and data security requirements native to health care environments, this market has proven markedly ripe for BYOD's spread – according to a recent VDC survey, 75% of healthcare organizations currently have or are considering BYOD policies. Tightening health care budgets are seeing IT departments accommodate increased flexibility in network access and app support for employees.
- Yet while a favorite buzzword amongst mHealth analysts, BYOD’s direct market impact will be tempered as regulatory compliance considerations, data security risks, and device management challenges necessitate more restrictive BYOD policies.
Market Shifts Drive Innovation in the Legacy Rugged Market
- While rugged will see slower uptake across emerging economies, the market for these technologies will continue to grow across North America and Europe. In a market with mission-critical processes and chaotic workflows, device performance and reliability is key. Traditional rugged devices - already present in many health care settings (e.g. handhelds/ PDAs, slate tablets, rugged smartphones) - offer a level of enterprise-friendliness not commonly found in the consumer grade solutions market (e.g. maintenance options, OS upgrade cycle).
- Moving forward, however, traditional rugged vendors will increasingly look at the end user experience to facilitate competitive differentiation. Rugged devices will increasingly incorporate some of the UI/UX enhancements and appealing graphics inherent to today's modern mobile platforms (e.g. iOS, Android).
For more information about VDC's Research on the mHealth market, check out our 2012 Report on mobile & wireless technologies in the Health Care Services market.
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