BlackBerry to Enter Health IT Market

Faced with declining sales of its eponymous smartphone, BlackBerry is turning to the mHealth and patient monitoring market.

BlackBerry recently invested in NantHealth, the healthcare division of IT development firm NantWorks, and will work with NantHealth to develop solutions for wirelessly integrating medical devices with physicians' smartphones and providers' data centers, according to a Bloomberg report.

The investment and new focus on healthcare is part of BlackBerry's efforts to turn a profit by focusing on industries where firm regulatory demands mean the market will bear higher-margin software that meets organizations' requirements, according to the report.  

BlackBerry is not the only nonhealthcare company that is eying the $2.8 trillion-per-year healthcare market. According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report, 24 of Fortune's top 50 companies are nonhealthcare companies that have began to test the healthcare waters. For example, Wal-Mart Stores, which holds the top spot on the Fortune list, has recently partnered with Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente to open in-store micro-clinics that offer basic diagnostic services and telemedicine connections to physicians.

According to the PwC report, the growing demand for innovation within the healthcare sector will continue to entice outside companies into the market.

More Articles on the Health IT Market:

HIMSS Analytics: 3 Types of EMR Apps Poised for Growth
3 Hints Apple's iWatch Will Have mHealth Capabilities
Health IT Funding Breaks Records in Q1

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