Even as mobile phone manufacturers complained of slumping 2008 sales due to the weakened global economy, sales of higher priced smartphones rose steadily throughout 2008, according to Nokia, RIM, Sony Ericsson and Apple. A new report from Dublin, Ireland-based Research and Markets indicates that vendors and industry analysts alike are now convinced that, although the mobile device market will record negative growth overall in 2009, the downward shift will be softened by strong smartphone sales. Healthcare, of course, is a key channel for these sales.

More importantly, the arrival of near-broadband connection speeds—3G and in the near-future 4G—offers healthcare professionals the opportunity to do more with less hardware. Where laptops, in most cases, are restricted to hotspots, current smartphones enable a connection at near-broadband speeds in almost any environment.

Healthcare providers and vendors are embracing the possibilities. As we’ve seen in just the past two weeks, the role of smartphones in healthcare—as well as related apps—is once again a hot topic.

For example, earlier this month MobileHealthWatch highlighted results of a 2008 study from Spyglass Consulting Group, which found that nurses spend just three percent of the average shift in patients’ rooms and 81 percent at nursing stations. Renee McLeod, director of the Office of Transformational Technologies and Organizations at the Arizona State University College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation, says much of the role smartphones play in nursing education going forward will be aimed at reversing that trend.

Then there’s Thomas Giannulli, M.D., who hopes physicians reluctant to invest in EMR systems will at least purchase an iPhone. Giannulli heads up Westlake Village, Calif.-based CareTools, the developer of iChart, an application specifically designed for the iPhone that allows physicians to download and use all the functions of an EMR through a simple “touch and tap” interface.

More recently, Onset Technology said it combined the advantages of paging and mobile phones into one service that can be accessed with a smartphone. With the application, the Waltham, Mass.-based developer of wireless enterprise products claims healthcare companies can shed multiple devices and cut costs for their IT departments.

And let’s not forget that one of the liveliest sessions at TEPR+ occurred as the event was drawing to a close, during a presentation and Q&A with Don Witters from the FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Witters repeated several times that he attended the show in order to begin a dialog with the mHealth industry to establish clear pathways and regulations that ensure wireless quality of service, coexistence with other medical systems, data integrity, security and electromagnetic compatibility.

Witters said his goal was safe, secure and reliable deployments of wireless technology in healthcare, which begs the question: will the FDA look to regulate iPhone health apps and other offerings? What if it does?