Qualcomm, AT&T Move in on 'M-Health'

Qualcomm (QCOM), the mobile-phone chipmaker, and AT&T (T), the largest U.S. phone company, are angling for a piece of the emerging market for wireless devices used in providing health-related services to consumers on the go and at home.

U.S. sales of related wireless gadgets, applications, and services for consumers are projected to double to $600 million this year and may more than double again, to $1.3 billion, in 2011, according to consulting firm Parks Associates in Dallas. Growth potential for the so-called m-health market is attracting growing interest from other tech industry giants, including Intel (), IBM () and Sprint Nextel (). "We meet with one medical device company a day," says Don Jones, a vice-president at Qualcomm, which is pushing the adoption of products such as electronic band-aids—gadgets that attach to the body and gather a patient's vital signs and other information. "This business will be very large," Jones says. Qualcomm makes chips designed to power the devices.