The March of Mobile

“Just as they did in 2009 and 2010, healthcare marketers and industry commentators are widely proclaiming 2011 to be ‘the year of mobile.’ The difference being, this time, it’s for real. And the numbers prove it.

According to Manhattan Research’s Cybercitizen v10.0 study, nearly 30 million US adults are m-health consumers or use an app, text-messaging or browser on their mobile device for health reasons, and this figure is up from 10 million in 2008.

And penetration of smart phones among healthcare professionals now stands at 81% and rising, according to the firm’s Taking the Pulse v11.0 survey of physicians.

Meanwhile, an Ernst & Young report in February revealed that drug makers, led by Merck and Novartis, boosted spending on mobile apps and educational websites for patients by 78%, initiating 97 new projects in 2010.

Clearly, the potential for mobile to revolutionize the way marketers, educators and healthcare providers reach and engage end users, exchange value, prompt action, change behavior, build loyalty, achieve scale and measure results, is almost unprecedented. In theory, at least.

Which is why it has seemed like a long wait for such a fast-evolving medium to become established. And now that it’s arrived, we’re not calling this the year of mobile anymore. It’s too big for that. ‘We are at the start of the Decade of Mobile,’ asserts Bill Drummy, CEO of Heartbeat Ideas. ’2011 is just one inflection point.’”

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Source: MM&M Magazine, The Mobile Guide
Date Published: May 2011