IoT Wearable Market is Looking, Well, Healthy

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Brand new research on Health and Fitness IoT Devices is now available from Mobile Experts. The change from "Fee for Service" to "Value Based" healthcare is driving the market toward monitoring devices with a wide range of capability and purpose.

The report offers a thorough look into the application of IoT devices in healthcare, zeroing in on wearables for fitness and medical use. In the first half of 2016, 45 million of these wearable devices were shipped.   Future applications for these wearables include smart pill bottles, 'telemedicine', remote diagnostics and remote surgery. 

"The global healthcare market has started a slow, sweeping change in philosophy," remarked Principal Analyst Joe Madden. "Multiple forces are now changing the business model, so that healthcare providers are compensated based on health, not based on transactions. Technology is a major enabler in this trend.   We expect to see strong growth in fitness and medical wearable devices that are more integrated with clothing.   We anticipate heavy adoption of smart pill bottles and other devices to precisely monitor the drugs taken by patients.   Overall, information is required to make 21st century healthcare profitable."

The research includes 30 charts and figures that break down details in the 41-page report. The analysis delves into 'Telemedicine' IoT devices.   Blood pressure, ECG, EEG, temperature, glucose, and other measurements can be performed on the patient at various levels, with Bluetooth-enabled wearables in some cases and MICS/Medradio connectivity for others.  All kinds of data will be uploaded to cloud applications for review by a doctor who may be located elsewhere. 

Principal Analyst Joe Madden commented, "Wellness program incentives blur the line between 'fitness tracking' and 'medical insurance.'   There are interesting products out there such as 'smart socks' that can help an athlete to improve performance, or help an injured person to rehab.   We chose to include both fitness and medical categories in this report in great detail in order to thoroughly analyze the future of this developing market." 

Mobile Experts interviewed more than 35 companies ranging from insurance providers to hospitals, OEMs, and semiconductor suppliers to develop the information in this report. After thorough review of existing connectivity technology choices, our Experts estimate shipments and revenue based on technical and business factors. 

Technologies covered include:  ANT/ANT+, Bluetooth, BLE, GSM, LPWAN, LTE, MICS/Medradio, NB-IoT, Wi-Fi, WMTS, Zigbee/802.15.4 and 802.15.4j.   This report includes detailed semiconductor forecasts by technology option, by frequency band, and by integration level for MCUs and RF devices. 

About Mobile Experts LLC

Mobile Experts provides insightful market analysis for the mobile infrastructure and mobile handset markets.  Our analysts are true Experts, who remain focused on topics where each analyst has 20 years of experience or more.  Research topics center on technology introduction for radio frequency (RF) and communications innovation.