America may have a bad case of DOWNLOAD ANXIETY when it comes to their PCs/laptops, but downloading to cell phones is torrid-- witness over 60 million downloads to the Apple iPhone 3G to date.
All health sites-- some 2,000 or so-- had 69 million U.S. visitors in the month of July-08, according to comScore. And there are at least 100 health-related iPhone applications, ranging from a body-fat calculator called 2Fat+ to a pregnancy timer called Ovulation Calendar. And there's Absolute Fitness, a lite app that lets you log data on calorie intake, exercise and weight.
Most of these mobile phone apps are free or under $5, but Absolute Fitness bears a price tag of $14.99.
eHealth is booming. Witness market-share leader WebMD-- their 2008-Q2 advertising revenue rose 19% to $62.6 million from $52.4 million for the same period a year ago. And the number of unique monthly visitors to its site grew 20% to 48 million.
SUMMARY: A tectonic shift is ongoing in online health, in small part due to the rise of mobile phones for applications other than voice, but mainly because web titans Microsoft and Google have established powerful online networks of consumers, doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and drug companies.
Soon enough these networks inarguably will reduce health costs and provide better care and services to consumers-- while delivering a veritable tsunami of health advertising.
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