Revenue Models of Mobile Health Applications : Free-to-play applications

Abstract

The objective of this thesis was to establish whether the proven revenue models of core applications are appropriate in mobile health or “mHealth” applications, i.e. fitness and wellness and medical applications. This research focuses on the free-to-play and freemium revenue models. Another target was to elaborate on the mobile health environment and present its versatile utilization areas. The work was commissioned by Savonia University’s Health ProPeli project which is part of the bigger Games for Health program. The project aims to study the use of gaming technologies, digital- and physical innovations and gamification in health care, functional capacity and rehabilitation.

The main research method was five qualitative standardized open-ended interviews. The interviewed professionals are from business and software development and theme park construction and design. In addition, a literature review was conducted to formulate the theoretical framework. The data from both primary and secondary research were then combined and analyzed to see whether the results achieve similar conclusions.

Both theory and research indicated that freemium with either in-app purchases or advertising can act as a viable mHealth application revenue model, for at least fitness and wellness applications. Further research is required to determine whether this is the case for medical applications, as well.