Microsoft released an official mobile app for its HealthVault PHR platform last week for smartphones running the company's Windows Phone 7 operating system. The free app allows users to quickly input medical information such as immunizations and allergies to the cloud-based service, view graphs charting blood pressure and glucose readings, review insurance information and family medical history, and more.

Microsoft's chief architect of Health Solutions, Sean Nolan, commented on the app's launch in a recent blog post: "I am stunned at how many folks have already installed our brand new [app]. Forget any questions I may have had about the momentum of the mobile platforms; this is where the world is going." He added that the app was meant to be a general purpose tool for adding and sharing health information with providers, such as a nurse or physician.

While Nolan was stunned about the number of downloads since the app launched on December 13th, he did not disclose any specific numbers.

HealthVault first went mobile this June, when it launched a mobile optimized layout for its website, as well as a software developer kit (SDK) for Windows Phone 7 OS, iOS, and Android. The SDK allows third-party developers to integrate HealthVault's PHR cloud service into their health apps's back end. The shuttering of Google Health in June has led some health app developers to switch from Google Health to HealthVault for the back end.

At the time of the SDK launch, Nolan wrote that it has become “completely obvious” that mobile devices are becoming the primary channel through which people “communicate and compute” throughout the day. Mobile makes “complete sense” for health, Nolan wrote, because all meaningful health-related activities occur while we are away from our laptops: “office visits, emergencies, workouts, daily glucose testing, sleeping, you name it.”

Despite the fact that Microsoft has made an SDK available for Android and Apple iOS apps, this Windows Phone 7 HealthVault app release includes no mention of plans for an Android or iPhone version of the app.

Read Nolan's blog post for more details.