As part of its “Mobile Health Market Report 2010-2015,” research2guidance conducted a global survey amongst leading mHealth developers and healthcare companies and found that rather than app stores, mHealth apps will predominantly be distributed through traditional healthcare channels by 2015.
At the moment, app stores are still the distribution channels of choice, but in the future it is expected that hospitals and specialized healthcare product vendors become the predominant distribution channels.
More than half of all respondents (53%) believe that currently app stores are the best distribution channels followed only by healthcare websites (49%). Traditional health distribution channels like doctors (34%), hospitals (31%) and pharmacies (16%) are ranked as second and third tier distribution channels today.
However, in 5 years’ time, survey participants anticipate that hospitals (68%), doctors (65%) and traditional healthcare websites (56%) will become the main platforms on which to sell mHealth solutions…
In other words, at some point in the future, we’ll see doctors prescribing apps just like drugs today. Weird and cool at the same time. 😉