Nokia Wants Part Of Connected Health Market

Nokia Technologies, an offspring of Nokia, has has made its first step into the connected health market with Samsung, Apple and Microsoft by acquiring Withings of France.  Withings offers a family of award-winning digital health products and services to help people lead healthier lives. Its connected health product range includes regulated and unregulated products such as activity trackers, weighing scales, thermometers, blood pressure monitors, home and baby monitors.

Healthcare is expected to be one of the largest vertical markets in the Internet of Things, with analysts MarketsandMarkets forecasting that the global home healthcare software and services market will worth over US $6 Billion by 2018.  Telehealth solutions will be two of the fastest growing market segments over the next five years.

Talking about the purchase, Nokia's president and CEO Rajeev Suri said, Nokia has been interested in the connected health market for some time but is just moving into it.  The transaction is expected to to cost Nokia EUR 170 million in cash and is expected to close in early Q3, 2016 subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

"With this acquisition, Nokia is strengthening its position in the Internet of Things in a way that leverages the power of our trusted brand, " said Suri. "This fits with our company purpose of expanding the human possibilities of the connected world, and puts us at the heart of a very large addressable market where we can make a meaningful difference in peoples' lives."