Samsung's strategy officer eyes health sector for growth

The deepening cooperation between mobile information technology and the healthcare industry is creating an emerging market for device makers, Young Sohn, chief strategy officer of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said in Boao, South China's Hainan province.

Attending the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia on Saturday, the executive of one of the world's largest consumer electronics vendors said the combination of smartphones, wearables, biotech and healthcare services will help Samsung find new sources of demand.

Liu Jiren, chairman and CEO of Chinese software giant Neusoft Corp, said using wearables could be an efficient way for many countries to curb ever increasing healthcare spending.

Industry insiders were optimistic about the future applications of wearables in the healthcare market although there are still many issues that need to be solved — including privacy protection and the stability of the devices.

"Without a doubt technologies such as wearable devices will be widely used in a large number of sectors as long as the adoption of new technology benefits humans," Sohn said.