Mobile health market to reach $26B by 2017

The market for mobile health applications and associated devices will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 61% to reach $26 billion in revenue by 2017, according to a new report from Research and Markets. Most of that revenue will come not from software downloads, but from mobile health device sales and services, the report says. Based partly on a survey of 324 "opinion leaders," the report also estimates that about 50% of mobile phone and tablet users will have downloaded mobile health -- mHealth -- apps within five years. In contrast, 11% of cell phone users and 19% of smartphone users had mHealth apps on their devices in 2012, according to a Pew Internet survey.