Mobile health study predicts app revenue until the year 2017, grow tenfold

By John N. Frank

The global market for mobile health applications and services that go with them, $2.4 billion revenue in 2013 reaches and enlarged, to $26 billion by the end of 2017, according to a recently released report by research2guidance, a German market research down.

Apps on fitness monitoring card the greatest business potential for app developers today, according to the report of mHealth app developers economic 2014. But up to the year 2017, apps with remote monitoring and consultations of the highest business potential, with fitness apps responders fall to the fifth survey predicted.

The results are based on responses to an online survey of 2,000 mobile health app publishers and experts in this field.

The number of mobile health apps released for iOS (iPhone) and Android mobile operating systems more than doubled to reach 100,000 in the first quarter of this year, the report firmly in the last 2 years. Almost 70% of app developers of less the $10,000 in revenue (and many of them don't). Only 5% have more than $1 million.

With the release of new apps, traditional health care players such as hospitals, insurers and pharmaceutical and medical device companies, "have the longest way to go, their role in the ecosystem to find app mHealth" according to the report.

Those players who are publishers, for 3.4% of the total number of app publishers but seem not to get to notice consumer more productive app. Their range, measured by downloads, is "well below the average," the report says. "It seems that traditional health care in the mHealth app business stuck player effort, but have not yet found the right strategy. If she did, it would accelerate the development of the market."

But the future for those companies bright looks survey responders ahead.

"Traditional health care players like doctors and hospitals are the upper rank distribution channel for mHealth applications over the next five years", the report noted. "The underlying assumption is that within this time frame mHealth apps have processes well integrated into the healthcare again."

Improving patient compliance helps health systems mobile apps and predicted to reduce the readmission, survey responders.