2.3 Use of health monitoring tools is exploding
Growing concerns among Canadians about their health, together with the development of technology, have created a new consumer market for health monitoring equipment and applications, which has grown significantly in recent years. This is especially true for devices that intelligently track fitness activity via GPS or that track vital signs, such as body weight, sleep patterns, heart rate and glucose levels. SMEs have introduced many of the most innovative devices.
Devices and accessories represent almost four out of every 10 dollars spent in the global weight loss and diet management products market. Most of these accessories have augmented features that help consumer maintain their motivation through Smartphone applications or cloud services. Sales of health and wellness Smartphone apps alone totaled an estimated $1.3 billion in 2012 by 2017, these apps are expected to account for almost one-tenth of the revenues in the Smartphone-assisted health care sector, with device and accessory sales driving most of the rest of the revenues.