16 reasons why FinTech, health and education are key drivers of innovation in mobile

Now in their 12th year, MEF’s annual awards, the Meffys is an industry benchmark for the evolution of our ecosystem. In 2005 the first dedicated Innovation Award was introduced to the Meffys and marked "an industry coming of age" according to the ceremony host, UK newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy. Fast-forward 10 years and it is the sectors that mobile now enables that is experiencing accelerated growth. The Meffys 2015 features seven Innovation awards including: App, Business Model, Mobile in Education, FinTech, mHealth, Mobile First Markets and Technology. Here we take a look at the …

iPhone Users Focus on Health, Android Users Prefer Fitness

Opera Mediaworks recently conducted research to discover if distinct patterns exist among the growing mobile health and fitness audience in terms of device used and activity across apps by looking at mobile ad-impressions.  There are significant differences across devices and countries. Here, Opera Mediaworks MD, Mark Slade breaks out some of the headline statistics. Mobile Health is a new category in the 2014 Meffys recognizing the innovation in this rapidly expanding area of the mobile ecosystem. Entries have just opened and judges will be looking at solutions that address affordable …

The Appification of Health & Fitness [Infographic]

Mobile professional services firm  Mobiquity has put together this infographic on the results of a survey of how consumers use their phones to track their health & fitness. 45 per cent use their fitness apps daily, with the majority tracking calorie intake, monitoring weight and goals. 63 per cent plan to use health and fitness apps even more over the next five years, and 55% of respondents plan to use wearable devices for health and fitness.  Concerns about privacy were highlighted as the greatest barrier to adoption with 61% suggesting this was stopping them from using health apps even …