The current popularity of consumer-focused connected health devices, whether fitness-tracking wristbands, smart bathroom scales or simply dedicated apps that run on an existing smartphone, is poised to make more consumers proactive about their well-being but is also set to play a huge role in the future of healthcare.
Research by Parks Associates suggests that 30per cent of US broadband homes already own some form of connected health device and that by 2016, over 32 million US consumers will be actively tracking their personal health and fitness -- either online or via a mobile device of some description.
At the same time, the use of wearable devices in the health and medical field, for monitoring vital signs such as insulin levels and blood pressure, is also growing and, according to Harry Wang, Parks Associates director of health and mobile product research, a converge is coming. Writing in the May edition of the research firm's Digital Health News, he states: "the design trends for wearables in the medical field follow what is happening in the fitness area -- they are becoming more discreet, with more user-centric designs and highly integrated functions."
From the article "Today's wearables shaping tomorrow's healthcare."
Mobile payments are still an up-and-coming new capability for consumers; while mobile banking has clearly led the way, there’s still a lot of interest in mobile payments at least in some fields. Wh...
“The connected home has become more data hungry than ever, and video consumption is the primary driver,” says Parks Associates. “Consumers are streaming video to every available screen from an increas...
The panelists were all in consensus that VR is not a just a temporary hype and will continue to grow. Recent study from Parks Associates revealed that 2.3M households in US already own a VR headset, s...
Dallas-based marketing research firm Parks Associates has released new mobile research showing 86% of U.S. broadband households now own a smartphone. The smartphone markets in European nations, like i...
