Cellular phones for personal medical monitoring on the way

One of the most interesting and useful cellular phone applications — that’s still very esoteric — is medical monitoring.  Imagine using a cellular phone to measure your blood pressure, heart rate, glucose levels, temperature and other medical/wellness parameters.

This is under development right now.  Some medical monitors will be built into handsets while others will be standalone devices that will wirelessly connect to phones.

Some of the biggest names in technology — Microsoft, Google and Qualcomm — are involved in the medical field for wireless, record-keeping and cellular networking.  In my latest weekly mobile communications column for CMP’s “Thinkernet” section on its “Internet Evolution” Web site, I write about the tremendous potential — and potential problems — of medical monitoring via cellular phones (see below).

I also write about a semi-stealth company, Fullpower Technologies, that’s headed by one of the most well known entrepreneurs in computer and mobile technology, Philippe Kahn.  You might remember Philippe as one of the founders of the camera phone platform company, LightSurf Technologies (sold to VeriSign), and the mobile/computer software synchronization company, Starfish Software (sold to Motorola).

And if you’re “of a certain age,” you might remember him as a founder of the computer languages and applications company, Borland International.  I loved Borland’s “Sidekick” personal information manager software.

Mobile medical monitoring will offer numerous benefits, but there also are significant pitfalls.  It’s a very complicated subject.  I suspect we’ll begin to see more of these devices in a year or two.