The market for smartphone health applications will grow from US$120 million in 2010 to over US$400 million in 2016, representing a more than threefold increase, according to projections from ABI Research.  The US research firm says sports and fitness will dominate the health apps market despite the growing importance of healthcare use.  The key to popularity of sports and fitness apps will be the presence of Bluetooth Smart on smartphones. Bluetooth Smart is the new name given by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group to the latest version of the short-range wireless technology (aka Bluetooth 4.0). The group has high hopes for Bluetooth 4.0 because of its inclusion on Apple’s iPhone 4S which supporters hope will boost its prospects for the health market. The latest version of Bluetooth offers superior data collection for smartphones when used in co-ordination with wearable sports devices.

Specialist device makers such as Garmin and Polar will compete directly with smartphones over the next five years, says the report. There will also be a significant number of new entrants including those promoting online health and fitness communities. Apps will increasingly be bundled with wearable devices with the result that app revenue will grow at half the rate of download numbers between 2010-2016, says ABI. More than one billion annual downloads are expected by the firm by 2016.