Smart wireless healthcare and fitness devices to be a $1.8 billion market by 2019
Connected health and fitness is set to boom over the next five years from the beginning of 2015, with the market for smart wireless in the healthcare and fitness arena due to be a $1.8 billion market by 2019.
In five year’s time there will be 13 million users subscribing to wireless healthcare and fitness device services per annum. Additionally, annual revenues from connected healthcare and fitness services will approach $2 billion by 2019, nearly six times the $320 billion value estimated for this year, a new study from Juniper Research has showed.
The research argues that connected healthcare devices and the data they generate will offer substantial benefits to both stakeholders and consumers, potentially improving preventative healthcare. However, deployments will initially be constrained by inconsistent regulation, alongside continued privacy concerns surrounding the sharing and security of personal data.
Highlighted in the research is the ‘quantified others’ trend; the use of someone’s data by a professional or concerned party, like a parent, to provide meaning or advice. Companies like GOQii and Filip Technologies are using this to provide services beyond mere data provision.
Yet this has the potential to be undermined by unreliable data. While medical devices have validation standards, fitness devices have no such benchmark. The development of standards would alleviate consumer and medical professionals’ concerns, driving up adoption, Juniper claimed.
“Connected fitness and health devices provide a way to collect biometric data, not interaction platforms,” remarked author James Moar. “People want to interact with the devices at the app level; the draw is the information. Because of this, and the omnipresence of sensors, the importance of the hardware will diminish at a much faster rate than other consumer electronics market segments.”
Also, the research showed that smart wireless devices will permeate the enterprise, with smart glasses in particular having a large impact according to Juniper. Meanwhile, smartwatches will be the most popular consumer electronics connected devices, overtaking more established wearable cameras.
Additionally, mobile point of sale devices are poised to take off in developing markets, with several key players looking to move into Latin America and Asia Pacific in the coming years.
