ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the state of the art in mobile clinical and health-related apps. We discuss the concept of “apps as a medical device” and the relevant regulatory controls. World is experiencing an extraordinary phenomena in the field of interpersonal communication. This enables people to communicate across vast geographical distances, until now inaccessible, especially in developing countries. Mobile phones because of their high levels of penetration hold tremendous potential as they provide opportunities, never imagined before. China leads as the country with maximum number of mobile phone users; India has the third largest number of mobile phone users in the world, nearly 56% among them have access to Internet in their devices for average of 3-4 h/day. In USA, 83% have mobile phones and 60% have access to broadband services. Findings suggest that rural India has seen significant increase in “penetration” and “teledensity” compared to urban India. Smartphone applications recently introduced in mobile phones will further enable the m-health industry to successfully reach out to 500 m of a total 1.4 bn. Smartphone users in 2015 research conducted by Pew internet and American life project found 17% of adults and 25% of young adults using cell phones for seeking overall health information.
