40% of U.S. broadband households want medical alerts on their smartphones

Most Appealing Smart Home Use Cases

In a survey of smart home use cases, Parks Associates has found that over 40% of U.S. broadband households are interested in the ability to receive medical alerts via a smartphone or other connected platform.

“About 10% of U.S. broadband households have some type of smart home product, service, or both, and by 2019 the number of U.S. homes with a smart home controller will exceed 26 million,” said Harry Wang, Director, Mobile and Health Products Research, Parks Associates. “The smart home could enable new value propositions in home-based health and wellness solutions and independent living products and services.”

According to Wang, the home care market is a logical extension for connected home platforms, and many such platforms are adding or will add home health, wellness, and aging-in-place solutions. Among the early examples are MobileHelp’s mPERS solution, Lively’s smart watch for independent living, and Jawbone’s fitness tracker.

“However, connected health applications introduce a bevy of unique challenges in integration and business models, so industry players need to screen market opportunities carefully through technology assessment and business risk analysis,” he added.