On the day before yesterday, the Evening Show of March 15th (the World Consumer Rights Day) revealed the story of Aunt Wang, who was fooled and asked to buy a number of "amazing" medical equipment products without any approval document numbers. The issue relating to the medical equipment for elderly is again pushed to the eye of the storm.  

Meanwhile, because of the statement of "it can't be considered as Mobile Health without the participation of a doctor" by Professor Chen Biao, Deputy Director of the Department of Neurology in Xuanwu Hospital, Mobile Health comes back to the sight of the public again.

The health of elderly people as a special group is always an issue that the society cares about. Due to the elderly people's inconvenience in movement and need for diseases monitoring and prevention, Mobile Health naturally sees a huge market among the senior group.

Today, let's talk about Mobile Health for elderly.

The market value of Mobile Health for elderly will reach RMB 20 billion to 30 billion

The report by Frost & Sullivan, a well-known American consulting firm, shows that those American people who were born during the baby boom after the Second World War are now in their old ages and they become the big drive to the growth of the medical equipment market in the United States. In Japan, which ranks top globally in terms of the economic aggregate, the elderly population has exceeded 18% of the total population of the nation. As the demand for medical equipment products grows, the size of the pharmaceutical and medical equipment market in Japan rose sharply from 240 trillion Yen in 1994 to 1142 trillion Yen in 2008. In parallel comparison with the United States and Japan, the market of medical equipment for elderly in China has huge potentials!

In addition, in terms of vertical growth, the elderly population in China is approximately 194 million in 2012, and relevant data show that the market size of the medical equipment for elderly exceeds approximately RMB 10 billion in the same year. In this year, the population of elderly people aged 60 and above reaches approximately 202 million, accounting for 15% of the total population in China. At the same time, as the living standard improves and the pursuit of health grows, it is conservatively estimated that the market size will reach RMB 20 billion to 30 billion.  

In Chinese society, the virtue of filial piety is always handed down generation by generation, and the idea of "spending money on health" is also favored by people. Hence, the market of medical equipment for elderly will be an important battlefield for future competition in the medical industry. And, as a future trend of the medical equipment industry, Mobile Health naturally seizes a huge share in the market of medical equipment for elderly.

Elderly people have urgent need for the convenience and the benefit of early prevention offered by Mobile Health, as they have difficulty in movement. However, at present, we have noticed that most Mobile Health is targeting at young people, with all kinds of gimmicks and flashy functions, which are not applicable to the elderly people as a special group. Since Mobile Health is not made suitable to the group of people who actually need it, so it is of little value like tasteless chicken ribs.

The development of Mobile Health and medical equipment for elderly is similar to certain extent.

It is very easy to see both of them are at the same level of accuracy, completeness and individuality.

How to promote the development of Mobile Health in the RMB-30-billion-worth market for elderly?

Currently, most Mobile Health is prevalent among youngsters for its trendy gimmicks that are not suited to the actual needs and use habits of the elderly, and the accuracy of Mobile Health is always being criticized. Also, what we need is not just a band or a watch with simple functionality for measuring blood pressure and blood sugar level, but more specialized and professional mobile medical equipment, particularly those suitable for elderly use.

That is to say, Mobile Health should be divided into two categories: one trendy category targeting at young people and the other practical category targeting at elderly people. Trend is always changing, and this is the reason why the category of Mobile Health targeting at young people is not developed as well as expected. The basic requirements for practical, accurate and easy-to-operate products always remain unchanged, so that's why the category of Mobile Health targeting at elderly people has continuously stable sources of customers, and hence can naturally have a steadily growing market.

Hence, Mobile Health should target more on the group of its real customers, namely, the elderly people, instead of focusing too much on following trends and creating gimmicks!    

We can seize shares in this charming RMB 30-billion-worth huge market only by valuing practical function and high accuracy as well as adapting to the use habit of elderly people.