Global Mobile Health App Market: Current Landscape and Five-Year Development Trends

Global Annual Economic Conference for Mobile Health App Developers

The Global Annual Economic Conference for Mobile Health App Developers is the world’s most renowned and largest platform for exchanging insights on internet healthcare research projects, as well as the premier international academic conference dedicated to examining the current state and future trends of the global mobile health app market.

At the 5th Global mHealth App Developers Economic Annual Conference in 2015, more than 5,000 professionals from the mobile healthcare app sector participated, including mHealth app developers, government policymakers, internet healthcare marketing channel representatives, and a team of experienced internet healthcare consultants.

A total of over 11,000 mobile health apps were showcased at the Mobile Health Conference.The attendance this year has nearly doubled compared to 2014, sufficiently demonstrating the increasingly prosperous development of the mobile health app market.Notably, attendance at mobile health app conferences in the Asia-Pacific region also saw a significant increase in 2015, rising from 12% in 2014 to 23% currently.



Current State of the Global Mobile Health App Market: Excessive Commercial Hype

From the perspective of the current development status of the global mobile health app market in 2015, the issue of excessive hype surrounding mobile health apps remains widespread., whether through excessive media hype within the industry or exaggerated commercial promotion by evaluation firms. What we cannot ignore is that leaders in the mobile health market, including large international companies such as Apple and Google, have also engaged in excessive hype surrounding their respective mobile health applications.

This excessive hype has invisibly increased the operational costs of mobile health apps and fueled vicious competition in the capital market. Such misconduct imposes an intangible economic burden on consumers, mobile health app companies, and even the nation.

A rational mobile health app market should, like the development of other scientific and technological fields, be driven by users’ direct needs to establish the market, rather than inducing demand through excessive commercial hype and promotion. What we truly need to do is launch mobile health apps that address genuine user needs, with the ultimate goal of enhancing individual user experience.

Meanwhile, mobile health app companies and national regulatory authorities can further impose strict oversight on applications and related hardware to eliminate false advertising and excessive hype. This will better provide consumers with a growing number of high-quality apps, ultimately achieving a win-win scenario that reduces operational costs for app developers while meeting users’ genuine needs.

Excessive commercial hype surrounding mobile health apps can only lead to excessive capital investment and vicious market competition, which is detrimental to both companies and consumers. We should strive to break the unhealthy competitive environment triggered by such excessive hype in the mobile health app sector. From another perspective,The commercial hype generated by app companies is largely a remedial measure taken when their apps fail to gain user favor and do not achieve expected revenue.

The Dilemma Facing Most Mobile Health App Companies



Despite the growing demand in the mobile health app market (as shown in the chart above), the annual reports of most companies in this sector remain disappointing, with largely unsatisfactory outcomes. Statistical data show that more than half (58%) of mobile health app companies reported failing to meet their original revenue targets. Only 15% of mobile health app companies stated in their annual reports that they had achieved their set goals. Against the backdrop of a booming broader market, the fact that 58% of companies delivered unsatisfactory annual reports is thought-provoking.

The business model of a successful mobile health app company should enable the company to acquire a sufficient number of app downloads and user base.Even as global demand for mobile health apps surges, this upward trend does not guarantee that every app developer will benefit.The issue appears to be that the growing user demand for mobile health apps has been offset by an equally rapid surge in the number of available apps. The following data clearly substantiates this phenomenon: 62% of mobile health app developers have applications with fewer than 5,000 downloads, while only 11% have applications that exceed one million downloads.Once again, it proves that a significant portion of the excessively growing app applications are either in low market demand or offer subpar user experiences.. Survey data from 2014 show that 67% of mobile health app companies invested less than $10,000 in their applications, which further explains why most apps are poorly designed.

Operational Strategies of Different Mobile Health App Companies

At the 2014 Global mHealth App Developer Economics Annual Conference, a clear analysis was presented on the differing operational strategies among various mobile health app developers, encompassing both “millionaires” with annual revenues exceeding $1 million and “low-income earners” with annual revenues below $10,000. The 2015 annual conference report highlighted significant disparities in operational strategies between these two groups.

“Millionaires,” who overwhelmingly dominate in user numbers, possess more extensive operational experience in the development of mobile health apps. They entered the mobile health app market earlier (47% of “Millionaires” had already entered the market before 2010). This proportion is 30 percentage points higher than that of “Low-Income Earners.” Compared with 2014, both groups saw growth in the number of applications released in 2015; however, “Millionaires” released an average of 12 applications, which was five more apps on average than “Low-Income Earners.” From this, we can draw the following conclusion:Successful mobile health app companies share at least two characteristics: they entered the mobile health market earlier, accumulating richer operational experience, and they have launched a greater number of mobile health apps.



Furthermore, there are certain differences in the layout of their target user groups. The mobile health applications released by “Millionaires” aim to sell company-related products and services, whereas “Low-Income Individuals” prioritize the needs of funders and supporters. In other words,The marketing strategy of “Millionaire” is to increase its company’s product sales and enhance product services through its app, whereas the app launched by “Low-Income Earner” merely serves as an advertising platform for sponsors.

Successful mobile health app developers focus more on target groups such as hospitals, while the “low-income” segment targets patients with chronic diseases. The “millionaires” can successfully generate revenue from healthcare services through mobile health apps, rather than relying on app development itself. The primary income source for the “low-income” group comes almost entirely from app development.

The Impact of Mobile Health Apps on the Healthcare Market



As is well known, extensive industry hype has driven mobile health app downloads and related sensor shipments past the million mark, and mobile health apps are gradually transforming traditional healthcare delivery. Furthermore, an analysis of all stakeholders in the mobile health app industry reveals that patients have clearly become the most influential force in the healthcare sector.

That is,Patients Have Become the Primary Demographic in the Mobile Health MarketAt least 50% of mobile health apps provide services for patient disease management and health maintenance.Secondly, developers will become the second most critical decision-makers influencing the mobile healthcare industry.Given that 41% of app developers provide patients with appointment scheduling and related disease diagnosis services within their applications, it is evident that mobile health apps will be a significant factor influencing the healthcare industry in the future, beyond pharmacies.

Mobile Health App Market: Trends and Outlook

The 2015 Global mHealth App Developer Economics Annual Report stated that,Smartphones will become the preferred mobile medical devices in the next five years,85% of mobile health practitioners use smartphones as their primary tool. Smartphone penetration is particularly high in developing countries. Survey data indicate that Android and iOS remain the two dominant application development platforms for mobile health.Second, smartwatches will replace tablets as the second device for mobile health apps.Tablets and smart wristbands will also play a pivotal role in the mobile medical device market over the next five years.


In the future,Providing users with automated data entry services through mobile health apps will be the mainstream trend.Mobile health apps are increasingly leveraging sensors to record physiological metrics and collect data, with 70% of such apps being built into smartphones. Patients with chronic diseases constitute the primary target audience for mobile health app developers, among which diabetes is considered the largest user segment for R&D focus over the next five years, followed by other chronic conditions such as obesity, hypertension, and depression.

The development of diagnostic mobile health apps is also a major future trend; an app capable of providing disease diagnosis will bring significant convenience to both patients and physicians. Electronic health record (EHR)-style health tracking apps and nutritional guidance apps have also received high acclaim from users in their respective fields.

Compiled by: Chen Kun

Editor: Zhang Nan