Mobile health apps, or teleapps, are becoming more adept at capturing intimate medical knowledge of consumers, such as their blood pressure or sleep patterns.
Consumers don't seem to have concerns about providing this data over a mobile device for several reasons—a trend that bodes well for telehealth and casts further doubt on the effectiveness of some modes of health-related digital advertising.
Medically-oriented Apps
Popsi Cube, a company dedicated to clinical research, has developed in collaboration with Withings Popsicare, a new app for the capturing and sharing of pulse and blood pressure data and medical questionnaire directly from the patient's home.
The medical data is then transmitted to health professionals in real time. The app also allows access to follow-up data on blood pressure associated with a medical questionnaire.
Another example is the the Renew Sleep Clock, which debuted at CES (via Computer World).
It keeps track of a person’s sleeping habits through a sensor that uses Doppler radar to detect movement and respiration and a base unit that interfaces with an iPhone.
Data it collects include how many hours the user slept, how long it took to fall asleep, and how many times the user woke up in the night.
Mobile a Trusted Source
It may seem surprising that consumers allow apps access to their medical information, but it appears that mobile is a more trusted channel in this respect than other online modes of communication—a lesson that marketers in this space are learning as well.
People seeking healthcare information online–especially sensitive information–are leery about privacy issues when it comes to desktop search, one recent study finds. Instead, they are more likely to turn to their mobile devices. This trend was identified by Healthline mobile search, a consumer health search engine.
It recently published a list of 2011's most-searched health and medical terms that were done on desktop computers and mobile devices. It found significant differences in what consumers search for from the privacy of their mobile devices vs. from PCs.
