The Digital Future in Focus, According to comScore Health Grew Fastest in 2011

...The fastest-growing mobile category by growth in audience was health information — which grew by 134% between December 2010 and December 2011, to 18 million people. While the health segment isn’t the largest mobile category — that title goes to general reference, classified ads, online retail, and gaming — health information holds a respectable place amidst these bigger segments, contradicting cynics who don’t believe people want to engage in health via mobile phones.

comScore comments that, “Health information has continued to gain popularity among mobile users…this emergent category amassed a growing and significant audience base. With more mobile health startups entering the field and traditional health information providers improving their mobile strategies, look for 2012 to see this area develop further.”

In the past month, Kaiser Permanente launched an app to enable patients to access their personal health records via mobile — an indication that this provider, among the most mature and sophisticated health information infrastructures in the U.S., has entered the #mhealth ecosystem...