In a recent post, mHealth Insight explained that we’re more likely as consumers to drop the “health” in mHealth rather than the “mobile,” because mobile cannibalizes all things pocket-sized and digital. Anything plus mobile eventually just equals mobile. For example, camera phones and music phones are both now just phones. So, mHealth will soon just be mobile, too. Folks won’t look up from their giant touchscreen phones and say they’re “engaging with the Healthcare system;” they’ll instead say “oh, I’m just using my phone.”

But when will mHealth be that intrinsically mobile? Let’s look at the healthcare side first. According to Mobile Business Briefing, Vodafone, “one of the strongest operator proponents of mobile healthcare technology,” says that first healthcare must be accessible on a global scale. They’ve identified five key areas driving the digital health sector:

1. Remote monitoring
2. Mobile flexible working
3. Access to medicine
4. Clinical research
5. Marketing and engagement