M-health is gaining momentum

Among the massive displays of TVs, gaming consoles, mobile devices and other gadgets at last week’s International Consumer Electronics Show, mobile health and fitness solutions were among the most dynamic new areas of focus at the conference.

Industry heavyweights Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless were among the most prominent firms to dedicate substantial booth space to display their growing set of partners and wireless health solutions. Verizon’s health section focused on several clinical health devices including LTE enabled devices for use in ambulances, remote patient diagnostics and home health monitoring.

This year’s conference also included an expanded section that included dozens of companies such as Body Media offering its FIT arm bands with sensors that monitor body vitals and Telcare with its innovative blood glucose monitor that includes built-in cellular connectivity to send a patient’s daily glucose readings to his/her physician.

In addition to these health-focused products, health and fitness related games were also prominently featured in Microsoft’s XBox 360 area. While the sales volumes of this growing array of products continues to be modest in comparison to the broader mobile phone space, BestBuy CEO Brian Dunn stated that the growth trend for the category has prompted the giant retailer to create a health focused product team for wireless health solutions and carve out dedicated floor space for the new products throughout its chain of stores.

Within the US market, the complexities of device certification, health insurance and payment mechanisms continue to present a challenge to new wireless clinical solutions. but the expanded offering of wireless consumer fitness and wellness products is proving to be one of the most compelling new product categories for 2012.

Operators must evolve to meet new demands

In the Middle East, as elsewhere, the convergence of media and telecoms is creating fresh opportunities as well as new difficulties and operators in the market need to develop new business models if they are to succeed. The warning comes from a report published by Informa Telecoms & Media this week, identifying the strategies for success in the rapidly-growing market for online and mobile content in the Middle East and North Africa.

Key enabling factors include the strong growth in both fixed and mobile broadband in the MENA region. The number of fixed broadband subscriptions in the region grew by about 160 per cent in the three-year period to end-June 2011. While the number of mobile broadband subscriptions in the region increased from 919,000 in 1Q08 to 6.9 million in 1Q11. The use of smartphones is also growing strongly, with smartphone penetration in Saudi Arabia forecast to rise from 25 per cent at end-2011 to 48.63 per cent at end-2016.

Additionally, strong growth in the use of social-media services, which was accelerated by the events of the Arab Awakening, demonstrates the interest in the region in new digital media content and formats. The region’s nascent e-commerce sector is also seeing a rise in activity.

However, there are constraints on digital media in the region, including the limited availability and affordability of data services in the less-developed markets; a lack of attractive local content; high levels of content piracy; and an unpreparedness to pay for goods, services or content online.

These are barriers that must be overcome, because the telecoms industry’s best prospects for growth now lie in data services rather than voice – while the media industry must adapt to viewers’ increasing preference for digital media and new content formats.

Google and Facebook have gone to considerable lengths to localize and Arabicize their services and that is an important factor in their success in the regional market, according to Reda Haidar, Dubai-based consultant for Informa. “Localization and Arabicization are essential if international players are to reach a mass market in the Middle East,” said Haidar.

Investments in the region by Yahoo and LivingSocial demonstrate the interest that international players have in the regional digital-media market. But players from within the region have the advantage of local knowledge, which is a strength that international entrants find hard to replicate.

“In the Middle East, as elsewhere, the convergence of media and telecoms is creating fresh opportunities as well as new difficulties,” said Matthew Reed, Informa’s head of mobile research for the Middle East and Africa. “In many cases, operators, media companies and others with a stake in the sector need to develop new business models if they are to succeed. Few, if any, have the option to stand still.”

Despite South Africa’s appearance at the top of the index, joint authors Nick Jotischky and Sheridan Nye note that until now mobile government implementations have been far slower to take off there than in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. These East African countries have been quicker to realise the benefits to citizens and small businesses (agricultural advice, payment of utility bills, commodity pricing information) of delivering public services using cellular technologies.

E-government is being seen increasingly by African governments as a source of economic, social and political development that encourages greater citizen engagement and improves access to services. And yet two-thirds of respondents to a C-level industry survey, whcih Informa recently commissioned, believe e-government services are still under-developed in Africa.

Jotischky notes “It is striking when looking at e-government strategies in Africa that there is no clear articulation of the role mobile devices can play in the spread of e-government services. Given the importance of mobile in Africa’s economy and culture over the last decade, this appears strange. After all, not only does the continuing growth in wireless access ensure a wide audience reach, but messaging and data usage trends suggest many consumers in Africa are already using mobile for a variety of purposes. Furthermore, the mobile device market continues to mature and smartphone penetration is accelerating.” Informa projects that by 2016 over a third of mobile connections in South Africa will be via smartphones.

The report notes that many of the mobile government services already implemented are in East and North Africa. Most of these services are directed at citizens and businesses but as yet, governments have not used mobile technology as a way of overhauling internal processes and providing more flexibility to their workforces.

Nye suggests: “Technology providers in Africa have an opportunity to enable mobile government by encouraging the migration of public sector services to the cloud. Virtualisation of infrastructure and flexible, usage-based pricing would allow government agencies to pay for what they need and flex costs accordingly to match demand. Mobility services should form an integrated part of the public sector’s cloud migration.”

Informa’s mobile government readiness index is based on the following indicators: mobile penetration; 3G penetration; mobile broadband penetration forecasts; proportion of population living in rural areas; the size of public sector as a % of GDP; UN’s e-Government Readiness Index; fixed broadband penetration and literacy rates. The index excluded countries with a population less than 5 million.

Informa’s Analysts will be discussing this and other hot topics at the AfricCom event in Cape Town. For more information please visit: http://africa.comworldseries.com/

About AfricaCom
AfricaCom is Africa’s largest communications conference & exhibition. Now in its 14th year, this trailblazing event gathers together 5,000 senior decision-makers from the telecoms, media and ICT industries. This year a record 150+ speakers will share their vision of Africa’s future communications landscape and the agenda has expanded t incorporate 2 brand new events – AfricaCast and Enterprise ICT Africa – which will attract new audiences from the broadcast and business sectors respectively.

About Informa Telecoms & Media
Informa Telecoms & Media is the leading provider of business intelligence and strategic services to the global telecoms and media markets. Our aim is to provide actionable, strategic advice and forecasting on all aspects of the music, mobile and fixed, entertainment markets.

© Informa UK Ltd 2011. All rights reserved.

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denise.duffy@informa.com
Tel: +44 (0) 7500 3308 26

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