Healthcare is a niche market with growth potential for Smartphones, according to healthcare market research publisher Kalorama Information (New York, NY, USA).

In 2009, PDAs and Smartphones combined were worth about US$2.6 billion for healthcare applications. The many factors that make healthcare ideal for Smartphone sales include high rates of physician and the many available applications.

Healthcare professionals have been key consumers of beeper and pager devices, and many portable patient record and reference book products were aimed at physicians. While healthcare is just a fraction of total Smartphone and PDA sales, about five percent of the total market, Kalorama predicts that healthcare is one of the growth areas; particularly for Smartphones, because of their ability to combine communication with alerts, references, and records.

One important application of Smartphones is in diagnostics. With just one hour's notice, a service called 3GDoctor (Lispole, Ireland) lets a patient consult with a doctor via a 3G videophone connection. "We have made the Smartphone into a medical diagnostic sensor that is smarter than the normal office visit, where you get poked and prodded and they still don't know what's wrong with you,” said David Doherty, head of business development at 3GDoctor. "Our belief is that every feature of a Smartphone is a potential medical sensor that your doctor can use for diagnosis. You can use the camera and microphone to describe your problem, the display can show images to test your vision, a touch screen can detect tremors in a finger.”

Several wireless companies have tailored their offerings to the needs of the healthcare industry and this is expected to continue. Two of these companies are Socket Mobile, Inc. (Newark, CA, USA), which released the SoMo 650Rx hospital-grade PDA featuring an antimicrobial material that provides improved protection against the spread of bacteria and microbes; and Motorola's (Schaumberg, IL, USA) MTC100 that offers features designed to enhance productivity and effectiveness--equipped with multi-mode wireless connectivity, secured wide-area data bearer, and wireless LAN connection.

"Healthcare is a mobile profession and lends itself to these devices,” according to Bruce Carlson, publisher of Kalorama Information. "They provide a wide range of conveniences and workflow efficiencies, which cannot be achieved with traditional notepads and pocket drug references.”

Related Links:

Kalorama Information
3GDoctor
Socket Mobile, Inc.
Motorola