Accel’s Wong may pick Android over Apple in health platforms

SAN FRANCISCO — Veteran mobile investor Rich Wong said that mobile health technology and apps are going to be a considerable investment opportunity, and suggested he’s inclined to place his bets on the Android side of the space.

“I think it’s hard to ignore the market share numbers,” Wong said at the Mobile First conference Thursday. “It’s nine to two or eight to two in favor of Android.”

“Apple is strong in Silicon Valley where the investment comes from, but we are investing all over the world,” Wong said, referring to his investment firm, Accel. Accel brought Wong aboard in 2007.

Wong points out that one of the big themes in Obamacare is to begin compensating health care providers based on how well they keep whole populations of people healthy.

For example, some medical groups are already participating in “accountable care organization” (ACO) programs wherein Medicare pays them a set amount upfront to keep a given population of Medicare patients healthy.

Wong says health care providers can use mobile health devices and apps to stay engaged with patients and prevent them from getting sick.

“Obviously there’s not a better device to do things like monitor medications,” Wong said. “A lot of people are trying to discover how mobile devices can be used to monitor chronic care conditions,” he added.

When patients fail to take their medications or follow doctor’s orders, they often show up at the emergency room or get readmitted to the hospital, which the ACO must then pay for out of the upfront payment they received from Medicare.

So mobile health tech could simply eliminate the need for those expensive visits. “That obviously changes the cost curve in health care,” Wong said.

It follows that if you’re trying to care for a large population of people, you’d want to develop for the mobile platform that the largest number of people are using, Wong suggested. That’s Android.

The consumer health data and integration platforms of big tech companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung may eventually allow physicians and other care givers to access health data from consumer wearable devices and apps.

Wong is one of the most experienced and successful investors in mobile technology today. As he points out, he was investing in mobile when color screens on phones were cutting edge.

But he says there’s still plenty of investment opportunity in mobile. “It’s the ‘end of the beginning’ cliche, it’s still so early,” Wong said. “There’s still a decade of growth in mobile.”