Writing over at the Gerson Lehrman Group blog, Mobile Flow CEO Ade Bamigboye, has penned a worthwhile summary of the mHealth market, including the classic challenges the industry faces and new opportunities thanks to mobile operator interest:

"Over the years, the drive to incorporate technology as a key aspect of personal healthcare delivery has suffered from technological, logistical and legal issues amongst others," Bamigboye writes. Bamigboye points to the growing interest from mobile operators like Orange, O2 and Vodafone:  "It is fair so say that with mobile operators being involved in m-health great strides can be made towards resolving some of the logistical issues. After all which industry is better placed to deliver and manage data and physical products directly to end users on such a grand scale?"

The biggest hurdles for mHealth, according to Bamigboye's assessment seems to be legal and support issues: "If anything, they will become even more complicated for anything other than simple SMS based m-health solutions. Who will take responsibility for loss of, or non-delivery of data at a critical moment? How can medical data, recommendations and advice be validated, assured, audited and tracked in an m-health driven system? Will the medical profession get behind m-health en-masse? If they do, how will the profession deal with the increased demand for advisory and follow-up services generated as a result of the sudden and huge increase in customers?"

While many of this issues are already squarely on the minds of many working in mHealth, Bamigboye's note that mobile operators are in a position to take some of the reins and push the industry through some hurdles is spot on. Read the rest of Bamigboye's post: mHealth sector’s healthy opportunities? Same old claims, same old problems.