Diabetes Mine has posted an extremely thought provoking and in depth article regarding the use of cellphones, and the ubiquitous wireless cell network as a sort of ‘health tether’ being developed by Qualcomm. The benefits of this type of ‘always on’ monitoring technology to mobility limited individuals is immediately evident.

Wireless technology leader Qualcomm Inc. has some very big ideas about untethered devices for healthcare, and in particular, about using your mobile phone as a health aid. I was lucky enough last week to get a “back stage pass” for a chat with Don Jones, the company’s VP of Business Development, who’s considered a visionary on the application of wireless technology to the healthcare and medical device sectors.

DM) Don, in just a few sentences, how do you define “wireless healthcare”?

We choose to define it as wireless health — not healthcare — because this includes fitness, wellness, and consumer health. It’s basically anywhere that connectivity can be applied to people’s health.

Qualcomm is a B2B (enterprise to enterprise) organization, helping companies deliver wireless health services by developing the enabling technologies. We’ve focused on small computing devices that have connectivity and incorporate into people’s lives beyond traditional voice services.