Qualcomm Announces Healthcare Subsidiary and Wireless Connectivity Platform

Qualcomm is one of those companies that I don’t really think about when it comes to major companies, but they are definitely a major player in the wireless community.  I think it is because most of the time their technology is supporting a more major product.

According to an article on mHealthWatch, Qualcomm will be stepping away from the support role by launching a wholly owned subsidiary focused on wireless healthcare called Qualcomm Life.  This launch is tied directly with their release of a wireless connectivity platform.

This new platform will allow users to have wireless connectivity without needing a wireless carrier and paying for data, or even needing a password to use Wi-Fi networks.  If this technology sounds familiar that is because it is; Amazon uses the same technology in the Kindle e-readers, developed for them by Qualcomm.

This provides a whole new level of accessibility for existing devices, and for those that may be in development.  One of the biggest benefits to companies considering using it is that it has already been approved by the FDA, including meeting the security and privacy requirements that are so important in healthcare.

Providing this type of wireless connectivity takes so much of the guesswork out of developing devices.  Developers don’t need to create apps for iOs and Android and Blackberry and, you get the point.  It won’t matter what carrier a patient has either.  They can just get the devices that they need and not worry about it.

With this entry into the market by Qualcomm it will be really fun to see the type of things they create.  Wireless connectivity is an essential aspect of new medical devices, and advances like this are only going to make the market more interesting.