Sponsor 
THE PHILIPPINES, JULY 18, 2012: Mobile Monday Manila, an open community platform for mobile enthusiasts in the Philippines discussed mobile health and near field communications on July 16, 2012.
Ascendant Technologies Sergio Arroyo discussed mobile health. According to Arroyo, the use of mobile phones for health and medical prupose have doubled between the years 2012 and 2011.
A study presented by Arroyo showed that smartphone-enabled healthcare as a growth area since 95% of physicians have used smartphones to download medical data. Also, medical practitioners are not the only ones using mobile for medical info since more than 70% of patients seek info online before consulting a doctor. Diabetics and hypertensives also use mobile apps to track their daily health.
Sponsor
With the growing market and usage of mobile for medical health, mobile health is seen to top $1 billion in the next three years.
MoMo Manila co-founder and developer Charo Nuguid discussed near field communications (NFC), a mobile standard that establish radio communication through close proximity contact which is commonly used for payments but has established new functions as well.
According to Nuguid, this technology first appeared in the Philippines about six years ago through MasterCard Paypass which used NFC for payment solutions. However, it has not garnered much buzz despite its existence in some terminals 7-11 and SM Malls. One of the largest fast-food chain in the country, Jollibee, recently applied NFC through its HappyPlus card.
NFC can also be used for tourism. In Australia’s Tour of the Rocks, NFC was used to serve as guidebooks for tourists to get information about a certain place. If a certain location has an NFC sticker, the user need only put his NFC enabled smartphone near the sticker and information will already be trasferred.
Howvever, percentage of smartphones with NFC is pretty low. Some phones that have it are Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy s3.
The night also provided a venue for groups to pitch in ideas or new products in the mobile market from organizations and companies such as SmartCoop, pinoyBBdev, Eventhowler, and Ateneo School of Government to name a few.
Mobile Monday Manila, is the 121st Mobile Monday outpost in the world, which is an open community platform of mobile enthusiasts, professionals, developers, and anyone who’s interested in the future of mobile.
