E-health applications as new business opportunities in high competitive markets - In European highly competitive market environments, telecom carriers look for new business opportunities and innovative applications. One of those is e-health. According to InfoCom’s latest research, telecom carriers all over Europe have launched solutions for the healthcare sector. France and Spain seem to be the most dynamic European markets for e-health solutions targeting end-customers whereas as of new such services launched in other countries, for instance in Germany, in the UK, in Italy or in Portugal, most of such applications target professional users, for instance hospitals and health insurances rather than end-customers. In Germany, Vodafone has been probably the first to launch a health application for end-customers, offering “Vodafone Care”, a service hotline staffed with a qualified team of doctors and assistants operated through Vitaphone, a German e-health service provider.