British doctors apparently can't wait to take advantage of next-generation high-speed wireless phone networks.
According to a recent report by Wireless Healthcare, a market research firm in Hertfordshire, England, a potential $2.4 billion-a-year market exists for British cell-phone companies to develop 3G services to help doctors monitor patients remotely.
The British government has already committed $162 million for technology companies that can find ways to keep the elderly at home rather than occupying hospital beds. The number of citizens over the age of 65 is expected to increase by 40 percent in the next 20 years, Wireless Healthcare reported.
A wireless health solution promises to be more reliable than one that works over wired lines because it would always be on, and it would not require a phone line or docking station. A wireless service would also be faster because most 3G networks shuttle data at up to 2 Mbps -- almost four times faster than a typical dialup.
"Mobile operators should, therefore, ensure they target the elderly as well as the younger generation when planning 3G services," the analyst firm said.
American cell-phone company Sprint PCS (PCS) is already eyeing the graying U.S. population.
This week the company introduced a service that lets doctors retrieve patients' charts on any Web-enabled appliance that runs on Sprint's 3G Vision network. Doctors can easily make prescription changes, for example, and the system pings them in case of an emergency.
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Watch this: In a move toward transforming the cell phone into a portable color TV, Sprint PCS also released a service that lets customers download instant, on-demand, television-quality news segments on their cell phones.
The service, which can be downloaded onto a Sprint PCS Vision phone for $4 per month, provides Associated Press news feeds, sports and weather information in the format of a slide show with streaming audio.
Sprint consumer marketing vice president Chip Novick said now was the right moment to release the application, "in these times of such important world alerts and events."
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Calling all Linux users: Motorola unveiled what it says is the first cell phone running on Linux.
The phone, dubbed the A760, signals Motorola's move to make Linux the foundation for all of its future mobile phones. The phone, which will be released in the Asia-Pacific market later this year, is one of a series of such Linux products, a Motorola representative said.
Besides Linux applications, the A760 is a high-end phone that runs Java programs and other software. It has a compact design, a vivid-color touch screen, a personal digital assistant, digital camera, video player, MP3 player, speaker phone, picture and text-messaging capabilities, Internet access and a Bluetooth chip that lets the phone's owner synch wirelessly with other Bluetooth-enabled devices up to 30 feet away.
Motorola did not disclose a price for the phone. But the company has said it is banking on Linux because of its faithful following and healthy community of applications developers.
Still, despite a vote of confidence from Motorola, the world's No. 2 wireless phone maker, Linux has a lot of ground to gain in the cell-phone market. The open-source operating system isn't even on wireless analysts' radar.
According to market research firm IDC, Symbian will have about 53 percent of the handset market by 2006, with Microsoft controlling 27 percent of the market and PalmSource with a 10 percent share.
