“Asia Pacific’s predicted growth in connected devices, through an array of applications, means that the region is on the threshold of radically transforming the lives of its consumers, professionally and personally.”
The rising use of mobile phones, tablets, and other wireless devices will create a $7 billion mobile health market opportunity in the Asia Pacific region by 2017, according to a new report by PwC.
The GSMA, an international association of mobile phone operators, commissioned the study, which examined the growing digital ecosystem created by remote sensors, PCs, laptops, tablets, eReaders, mobile handsets, and wireless networking equipment, the report says.
“Asia Pacific’s predicted growth in connected devices, through an array of applications, means that the region is on the threshold of radically transforming the lives of its consumers, professionally, and personally,” says Michael O’Hara, GSMA’ chief marketing officer.
Revenue would accrue primarily from the sales of mobile devices by mobile phone network operators, and fees paid for data traffic, applications, system integration, installation, and most significantly, specific service revenues available to mobile operators.
Chief among those services would be monitoring services, which PwC expects will account for 55 percent of the market by 2017. Diagnostic services revenue is expected to account for a 24 percent market share.
China, not surprisingly, is predicted to lead the way with a market opportunity of $2.4 billion by 2017. Monitoring and diagnostics technologies are likely to gain significant traction in the country, according to the study, in particular to facilitate the delivery of better care to sparsely populated areas where there is often poor access to healthcare. Japan is anticipated to be the next largest Asia Pacific mobile health market, with $1.3 billion in addressable revenue opportunities, while India will offer a $540 million market opening.
Despite the rapid rise of mobile technologies in the United States, the Asia Pacific region remains home to more than half of the world’s six billion mobile connections and, being at the forefront of next-generation mobile broadband deployments is likely to create enormous new opportunities for digital health companies.
November 22, 2011
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-rich_market_unfolds_for_mobile_health_in_asia.html