Healthcare is an enormous part of the global economy, and in particular, in the U.S. healthcare spending constitutes nearly a sixth of the economy. A large market like healthcare, by and large in a state of disarray, and ripe for disruption is a target for many players, both existing, established players in other industries, and emerging players. Digital health is an area that is a bright spot in the health arena driven by latest digital technologies such as analytics, cloud, social, and of course, mobile.
It seems very likely that Apple, and possibly Amazon, will stake a claim for the digital health pie.
CB Insights has an in-depth analysis and states:
Already Apple has a large market opportunity built in. In the US alone, Apple has over 80M iPhone users, dwarfing the user numbers of any single health insurer.
And Apple has another massive advantage over other incumbents in the health care industry like hospitals and pharma: unlike drug companies and hospital groups, Apple doesn’t have to chase reimbursements from health insurers. Rather, it can afford to be laser-focused on the patient experience and patient outcomes.
Other players in health care should take notice.
We agree and it has implications for business and technology leaders in companies that have some reliance on healthcare ecosystem. Stay tuned.