Independence Blue Cross (IBC), a health insurer based in southeastern Pennsylvania, has launched a Windows 8 tablet app developed through a partnership with Kony, Inc., an application platform and packaged apps provider.
Since 2012, IBC has worked with Kony to develop apps for Android and iOS. By leveraging existing code, Kony created the Windows 8 app in just one month. The IBC app is Kony's first Windows-certified Windows 8 app.
"Developing for a new architecture like Windows 8 often brings big challenges, but this process was relatively smooth and simple," said Kenneth Russo, director of IBC's Digital Engagement Center of Excellence. "Leveraging our existing code on the Kony platform made the process extremely efficient and helped us get it done in record time."
IBC's move underscores just how many health insurers have jumped on the mobile app development bandwagon. For example, Aetna launched CarePass this past summer, and in 2011, Humana partnered with MapMyFitness to create the Humana fit app, which features an online nutrition center, mapping for walks and runs, social networking and integration with other Humana apps.
Insurers leverage apps not only to gather healthcare metadata but also to encourage policyholders to adopt healthier behaviors. Companies hope that combining big data with healthier customers will mean lower insurance costs.
The Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that over 19 percent of Americans have already started using mobile apps to track their fitness.
The Windows 8 store announced this past week that it had surpassed 100,000 available apps. That quantity lags far behind Google Play, which has over one million apps, and Apple's App Store, which offers over 900,000 apps including 375,000 customized for iPad.
Windows 8 also offers only 54 percent of the App Store's Top 100 apps, according to TabTimes.
Edited by
Ryan Sartor
