One half of the market for medical apps is now conducted in the United States, according to Kalorama Information (www.kaloramainformation.com). However, that’s expected to change rapidly, as medical systems in other parts of the world come to rely on mobile devices.
The healthcare market research firm said that United States’ share will shift to just one-fifth of the market for mhealth by 2020. This is the result of soon with rapid adoption in the rest of the world, and was a key finding in Kalorama’s report, mHealth Markets Worldwide, a comprehensive study of the mobile health industry.
“Brazil, China and other nations have already mobilized in many other industries and as their healthcare systems developed, mhealth solutions will prosper,” said Bruce Carlson, Publisher of Kalorama Information.
The report said that China has become a focus market for device manufacturers and app developers. The app market in China has increased significantly over the past few years with companies like Apple showing 17% growth for 2014. Apple’s sales in China showed higher unit sales of all major product categories except iPod and higher net sales of iTunes during the year.
The mobile movement has hit Brazil head-on. The country has seen a massive update in digital mobile solutions and both device and app sales have increased considerably. Sales for apps in the health care space are now worth $29 million in Brazil, accounting for the third largest individual app market worldwide.
EMR connectivity, Disease management and monitoring, diagnostics, treatment, practitioner management, professional References, tools and training are among the types of apps being launched.
The report said Apple’s iOS platform is the highest performing among its competitors with about 55 percent of the medial app market in terms of dollars for 2015. Apple has experienced increasing competition from its main competitor Android (Google) and newer competition from the Windows platform in recent years.
The result has been a slowly eroding market share. However, the growing use of the iPad in health functions is keeping Apple at the top of the list.