Global Report Reveals Almost 42% of the World’s Population Has Access to the Internet
Trending Now: Survey says global Internet, social media, and mobile usage to increase in 2015.
London-based global social media agency We Are Social’s report covers Internet, social media, and mobile usage statistics from 30 of the world’s largest economies.
The most recent report reveals the following highlights:
- The number of global Internet users passed 3 billion, while worldwide social media users exceeded 2 billion in 2014.
- Mobile’s share of global Web traffic leapt 39% since the same time last year, with one-third of all Web pages now served to mobile phones.
- India’s Web traffic is dominated by mobile devices, with phones alone accounting for 72% of all Web pages served in the world’s second- most populous nation.
- Almost 42% of the world’s population has access to the Internet as of January 2015, representing a significant jump in reported numbers since last year’s report, when the same figure was just 35%.
- The average Internet user spends about four hours and 25 minutes online each day.
- The average social media user spends two hours and 25 minutes per day using social networks.
- Facebook continues to dominate the global social media landscape, claiming 1.37 billion active users in January 2015.
Source: We Are Social
Survey Shows Consumer Use of Wearables on the Rise
A recent ON World consumer survey found that consumer adoption is accelerating for wearable health and fitness devices, as 35% of respondents are likely to purchase a wearable technology device and more than half are likely to use their device for activity tracking followed by heart rate monitoring, sleep monitoring, blood pressure, and elderly care. (Editor’s note: see related article in this issue: The Wearables Craze.)
Compared with ON World’s previous survey in the second quarter of 2014, 39% of respondents interested in wearable technology are likely to purchase activity trackers up from 32%.
Smart watches are likely to be purchased by 44% up from 42% in the previous survey. Separately, 44% of the likely wearable technology consumers are willing to pay at least $99 for a wearable technology device and 10% are willing to spend $299 or more.
“Adoption for mobile sensing health and wellness devices continues to grow with fitness apps such as activity tracking leading the way," says Mareca Hatler, ON World’s research director. “Bluetooth Smart provides ubiquitous connectivity to smart phones and tablets for a growing mobile healthcare ecosystem driven by intensifying challenges for patient monitoring, diabetes management, and an aging population."
Source: ON World
2014: The Year Digital Health Broke Out
According to StartUp Health Insights’ Annual Report, 2014 was a record year for digital health with $6.5 billion invested, a 125% increase from the total amount invested in 2013.
The report provides a snapshot of the market’s top deals, subsectors, investors, and more.
Key findings include:
- The top five companies received approximately 20% of all funding invested this year. The top 10 deals (all $100 million and more) represent one-third of all funding in 2014.
- The top three most active subsectors of 2014 were big data/analytics, population health, and navigating the care system.
- The San Francisco Bay Area continues to attract the most capital, while interest in New York start-ups increases.
- In 2014, there were 40 mergers and acquisitions.
Source: StartUp Health
Mobile Health Impacts Patient Outcomes, Poses Opportunities for Industry
A recent survey sponsored by SAP and published by The Economist Intelligence Unit explores the role of mobile devices across the healthcare industry, from personal fitness and smoking cessation to applications in clinical and pharmaceutical settings.
Executives in both the public and private sector predict that new mobile devices and services will allow people to be more proactive in attending to their health and well being.
Analysts add that mobile health could also facilitate medical innovation by enabling scientists to harness the power of big data on a large scale.
Key findings include:
- 79% of healthcare professionals say mobile technologies are providing education and information.
- 64% of healthcare executives say mobile health could improve outcomes by giving people greater access to medical information.
- In five years, 50% predict that mobile health will enable patients to participate more proactively in their own care.
- However, almost half (49%) of survey respondents think consumer wariness about privacy violations could be a stumbling block for adoption.
Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit (PV)
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