IBM Study Reveals Health Gadget of the Future Requirements

Developing a health gadget has got to be tough.  You invest tons of time and money developing something that may never pan out.  A new study from IBM is shedding some light on what people are looking for in healthcare gadgets and what it will take for developers to tap into the market.

There are a few specific areas that the study mentions that are showing lots of promise.

Dieting

There are already plenty of apps and gadgets for weight-loss, but in the future consumers are going to demand are lot more than counting calories or tracking exercise.  Consumers want a proactive gadget that will motivate them to get up and do more.  They want to be held accountable for their activity, or lack thereof.  They also want inter-connectivity especially with social media where they can share their success, and struggles, with their friends and family.

Elderly

I have already written about a tracking bracelet that could mean a lot to people with autism or alzheimers.  Improvements in mobile apps could improve the lives of all elderly.  Being able to track their movement and help them monitor their movement can help them stay active, and also help prevent injury by alerting the consumer that they may be nearing a fall.  They could also help in huge ways with ensuring elderly people are taking their medications, and doing so properly.

Blood Monitoring

Devices of the future could provide non-intrusive blood monitoring.  This would allow doctors to monitor their patients’ health at a whole new level.  Doctors would be almost immediately alerted to increased white blood cells that could help prevent infection, or at the very least slow it down and make it better.

No matter what health condition the app or gadget is trying to address, there are three major aspects that the study found to be of the most importance: ease of use, reasonable pricing, and real-time information sharing.  96 percent of people in the study said ease of use was most important in choosing one device over another.  The study slotted $100 as the magic number for reasonable cost.  86 percent of participants want real-time, easy to understand feedback from their devices.

There is no denying that the future is very bright for health care gadgets and apps, and thanks to this study developers have  a better idea of what to shoot for.

The full report can be found here, or for the condensed version you can find the press release here.

   

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