Rise in smartphone use could signal the end of med devices industry
The smartphone juggernaut will impact revenues, design strategies and intellectual property (IP) management for medical devices in the same way it has for many consumer products including cameras, GPS devices and personal media players, warned UBM TechInsights, a market research firm, based in Anaheim, Calif.
The question for traditional medical device companies is whether their designers, marketers and IP staff have factored the smartphone platform into their thinking, according to UBM. Otherwise, medical device companies could face the same fate as makers of stand-alone GPS and MP3 players—a slow decline to obsolescence.
Innovation in the electronic medical devices industry is accelerating, enabling breakthrough methods of administering treatments and improving patient care, UBM stated. Initially, sophisticated electronic medical devices appear as standalone units with high prices and low sales volume. Over time, successful device categories attract competitors that drive product evolution in one of two directions: improving the original stand-alone format, or converging functionality with a larger, established market.
The core elements of many personal medical devices—including processors, displays, memory, keyboard/data-entry methods, battery power, connectivity methods, speaker/headphones and sensors—are found increasingly in smartphones. Driven by apps, video and gaming, smartphones have also become more sophisticated, boasting greater processing power and better sensors.
As a result, electronics designers now can deliver valuable medical device functionality at a lower marginal cost through integration with smartphones. Lower prices to consumers who already possess smartphones increase the addressable market for integrated products as compared with more expensive, standalone medical devices.
Integration often appears first as a physical connection between the smartphone and a specialized sensor through a cable or wireless technology. Subsequent stages of integration include physical packaging, sometimes with "sleeves" for specialized sensor functionality like the AliveCor iPhone ECG, then ultimately complete integration employing onboard smartphone sensors, like the iStethoscope, UBM stated.
The potential for personal wellness and medical applications development on smartphone devices, including charting of results and access to related medical information, opens new areas for added value not available from traditional stand-alone medical devices, UBM reported.
The question for traditional medical device companies is whether their designers, marketers and IP staff have factored the smartphone platform into their thinking, according to UBM. Otherwise, medical device companies could face the same fate as makers of stand-alone GPS and MP3 players—a slow decline to obsolescence.
Innovation in the electronic medical devices industry is accelerating, enabling breakthrough methods of administering treatments and improving patient care, UBM stated. Initially, sophisticated electronic medical devices appear as standalone units with high prices and low sales volume. Over time, successful device categories attract competitors that drive product evolution in one of two directions: improving the original stand-alone format, or converging functionality with a larger, established market.
The core elements of many personal medical devices—including processors, displays, memory, keyboard/data-entry methods, battery power, connectivity methods, speaker/headphones and sensors—are found increasingly in smartphones. Driven by apps, video and gaming, smartphones have also become more sophisticated, boasting greater processing power and better sensors.
As a result, electronics designers now can deliver valuable medical device functionality at a lower marginal cost through integration with smartphones. Lower prices to consumers who already possess smartphones increase the addressable market for integrated products as compared with more expensive, standalone medical devices.
Integration often appears first as a physical connection between the smartphone and a specialized sensor through a cable or wireless technology. Subsequent stages of integration include physical packaging, sometimes with "sleeves" for specialized sensor functionality like the AliveCor iPhone ECG, then ultimately complete integration employing onboard smartphone sensors, like the iStethoscope, UBM stated.
The potential for personal wellness and medical applications development on smartphone devices, including charting of results and access to related medical information, opens new areas for added value not available from traditional stand-alone medical devices, UBM reported.