Consumers made Android the most popular mobile brand in the fourth quarter last year.  Obviously, the general public is excited about Android.  But what do app developers think?

A report released recently by Appcelerator glimpses into the minds of app developers – whose creative drive and financial success will factor heavily into the continued expansion and improvement of clinically-useful apps on all mobile platforms.

This year, developers and businesses expect to triple their app development efforts and the average developer is now building for four different devices.

This report reveals the brands and devices capturing the interest of app developers and outlines their perspectives on the emergence of tablet technology.

Multi-platform priorities

App developers in this survey showed continued, strong interest in the iPhone and iPad as well as Android phones and tablets.  The iPhone remains a priority for the vast majority of respondents, with 92% of nearly 2,000 developers ‘very interested’ in developing.  The interesting, good news for users of other platforms is that many of the same developers are ‘very interested’ in venturing into new platforms.   Instead of brand allegiance, this year’s survey shows increasing focus on a multi-platform strategy.

Developers plan for expansion

The second great sign for the future of mobile apps is that app developers are expressing their desire to expand development efforts.  Developers plan to for an average of 6.5 new apps this year, up 183% from last year.

Tablets draw attention

App developers are increasingly interested in developing apps for tablets.  Interest in tablets does not appear to replace, but rather supplement, their interest in smart phones.

While iPad interest remains very high (87% very interested), this year’s report shows increasing competition for the attention of app developers coming from other platforms – particularly the dozens of Android tablets available now or soon-to-be released (74% very interested).  Interestingly, BlackBerry tablet interest has almost doubled in the last 15 months.

Defining a sustainable strategy

App developers are changing the way they do business.  The survey describes the evolution from an exploratory model—with a focus on free apps—to a new strategy: acceleration and innovation.  Part of sustainable change involves testing different models for making money – including new advertising and in-app purchasing.

What does this mean for medical app consumers?

Apps – including medical apps – will change as the app development companies expand and mature.

Expect to see more apps available on all platforms, and don’t expect Android’s dominance in consumer sales to diminish app developer’s drive to create great apps for the iPhone and iPad.  On the contrary, the increased popularity of the entire smart phone market and exploding interest in tablets should fuel innovation across the board as app developers transition from single- to multi-platform development.

Expect to pay for more apps.  Users of some medical apps—e.g. Skyscape or Epocrates—are accustomed to paying for premium content.  In the future, app developers will find new ways of making money, thus staying financially sustainable.  Whether by increasing app purchase price, expanding advertising capability, or designing more ways to spend money within the app, we would expect that app users will be faced with more ‘opportunities’ to spend money.

Ever tried using your iPhone medical apps with gloves?  Doesn’t work too well.  Although, if you’ve got gloves on you probably shouldn’t be using your iPhone anyways.  The iPad is being touted by many, including us, as a device that could be used with patients at the point of care.  Translation:  Could be used in hospital rooms and procedure rooms that require you to be gloved up.

Since the iPad has a capacitive touch screen your gloves won’t work, and that plastic stylus from your old Palm PDA won’t work either.  There’s a solution to this, the Pogo Sketch, featured in the picture.

The Pogo Sketch becomes an extension of your fingers and works on a capacitive touch screen.  No longer making the iPad or your iPhone inoperable when you have gloves on.  But what if you have to type information on the iPad or the iPhone?  Since your gloved fingers won’t work, using a stylus to peck each letter on the pop up keyboard would be a huge ordeal.

To counter this, iPhone OS version 3.2, the operating system that will be running on the iPad, is rumored to have support for a “handwriting keyboard”, via Engadget.

….and, most interestingly, prototype support for a “handwriting keyboard.” Maybe we’ll see some stylus action on this thing after all.

The above revelation would be significant for the medical community, especially for health care providers who need the ability to write text efficiently with gloved hands or while standing up.  I can imagine myself using this capability to type short notes or even prescriptions for patients while in a standing position in the hospital room.  The alternative would be to use the external keyboard connected to the iPad, definitely more cumbersome, and this would require you to sit down and have desk space.  And as most know, desk space isn’t exactly present in a hospital room.

I’m assuming Apple will not reserve this type of functionality for just the iPad, and will bring it to the iPhone and iPod Touch devices as well.  If they want to make waves in healthcare IT, they would be wise to.

The iPad, Apple’s new tablet, has just been released.  The following are some quick hitting features of the iPad that the medical community should be excited about, and ones we hope will be implemented in the clinic setting.

1. Battery life: Up to 10 hours, we mentioned in a previous post how important battery life is if Apple wants this tablet to be used in the healthcare setting
2. Beautiful screen: The 1024 by 768 screen appears to be gorgeous by many accounts.  This screen could definitely be used to look at imaging.  The Osirix app developers (DICOM station) are surely excited.  I’d love to see how radiology films will look on this.  This beautiful screen would be great for medical textbooks as well.
3. Pricing: at $499, definitely much less than other health care tablets.
4. External Keyboard: Along with battery life, this is one of the most critical components that will make this tablet actually useful in clinic.  I can’t imagine typing on the actual iPad in the clinic.  It wouldn’t be easy to do and in the clinic setting, typos can lead to critical medical mistakes.

We’ll have a more in depth post tonight with how the features the iPad touts can be used in the actual clinic setting.  We’re definitely excited and our medical peers should be as well.

With Apple’s soon to be released iPad re-energizing the tablet market, there has been much speculation on how the tablet will transform personal computing.  However, the tablet has been with us for quite some time. Almost a decade ago, I started testing and using Windows-based Tablet PCs for two cancer centers in Canada. They worked pretty well for what we were trying to do back then, but had definite limitations within the healthcare environment. If Apple’s iPad is to survive in healthcare, let alone transform it, then there are five key deficits Apple must address.

1) Input Method(s) and User Interface

This is the most crucial area and where the most problems arise.  For the tablet to be accepted by the healthcare community, versatility is the key. The basic input methods such as a touch screen (or pen based), keyboard (or lack of keyboard) and handwriting recognition accuracy need to be revamped and revolutionized. True, all of these features exist in today’s tablets, but they have yet to be implemented in the most effective and user friendly method.

In order to be transformative, the iPad will need to include inputs that consider the workflows and usages in healthcare. For example, consider input methods such as voice recognition and audio input (think transcription and also patient voice recording), photo/video capabilities (think user recognition, but also photos for wound care or tracking skin infections), and even the option for additional “medical stuff”, presumably through accessory hardware such as measurement of temperature or blood pressure. Such considerations would allow the iPad to be integrated in the clinical field in ways previous tablets were not.  A further discussion of the robust user interface the Apple Tablet operating system could bring was discussed in a previous post.

2) Look and Feel

For the most part, tablets used in the medical world have been too heavy and are often not built with enough toughness.  It might seem frivolous, but there are good reasons why a tablet has to look and feel right in a healthcare setting. Prior to computers, patients had the undivided attention of their physicians.  Now, with the advent of mobile computing and tablets,  a consistent complaint from patients is the lack of eye contact physicians make because of the computer screen they are staring at.  This is why the weight, look, and feel of a tablet is so key in the health care setting.  The more comfortable a physician is with their tablet, the less time they spend dividing their attention between the patient and the computer, allowing for a more seamless patient-physician interaction.

3) Battery Capacity

The battery on a typical tablet used in the health care setting needs to last long enough to get through an entire shift, which can be anywhere from 8 to 12 hours. Currently there are health care tablets available that can get close to 12 hours, but with repeated use this number significantly declines.

The battery issue might be the most interesting issue the health care community might have to consider with the Apple Tablet.  Apple is notorious for having non-removable batteries in their products.  The iPhone, iPod Touch, and even the newest MacBooks do not have removable batteries.  Apple claims they use high end batteries that lose capacity much slower than their competitors, this was their reasoning when they took out removable batteries from the latest Macbook.  If Apple decides not to include a removable battery in their tablet, it could be a huge blow in their efforts to be embraced by the healthcare community.

4) Privacy and Security

One of the great features healthcare tablets offer is their portability, but this same portability makes them targets for theft.  General physical security needs to be built into the device.  Also, software and hardware based privacy and security measures need to be options in healthcare tablets as well. Currently no manufacturer has yet to master these in full. Without getting overly technical, some examples include user recognition (e.g. finger print, retina, face, voice), patient verification, data encryption over wireless connections, remote data storage, and auto-log off features. In a HIPAA-dominated healthcare world, these features will be critical to widespread adoption.

5) Cost

Cost is always a central issue in health care.  But today’s healthcare tablet’s are generally priced greater than most high end notebooks, which works in Apple’s favor.  Current projections have the Apple tablet hitting the $1,000 price point.  If this is true, the healthcare industry might actually find using the Apple Tablet is a cost saving proposition, which usually isn’t the case when Apple products are in play. However, it will also be important to consider emerging competitors who may price lower than Apple, with some reports suggesting prices as low as $200.

If some of these issues are addressed on Wednesday, Apple might actually be a legitimate player in the healthcare tablet arena.  I’ll report back later this week to let you know.

Iltifat Husain and Satish Misra contributed to this post

The rumor mill keeps on churning with the soon to be released Apple Tablet, and now the medical community is supposedly involved.  According to an article by VentureBeat, Apple Reps have been talking to the Los Angeles Cedars – Sinai Medical Center about the potential of an Apple Tablet for medical professionals.

The article goes on to mention one of the reasons why tablets haven’t been universally embraced by medical professionals:

We’ve been told for years that medical professionals were the guaranteed-to-succeed market for tablets. Bill Gates raved about his in 2006. But tablets like the Dell Latitude XT2 XFR, pictured above, have stiffed again and again, in part because of their ungainly laptop-with-a-backwards-facing-display design.

I’ve mentioned in a previous post why the Apple Table could be a huge success in the medical industry, and it’s not because of form factor.  I can’t emphasize this enough.  There is this idea in the tech community that bulky tablets are why you don’t see medical providers using tablets for electronic medical records.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.  In my previous post I talk about how the User Interface of potential Electronic Medical Records in a native Operating System made by Apple would be one of the keys to success.

A nice looking tablet PC for medical professionals is already available.  The Motion C5 is viewed as a great Tablet for medical professionals, it’s a clipboard like computer that has an RFID reader, photo capability, and other nice features.  Basically, its a slim tablet with a nice form factor.

One of the largest barriers holding back medical tablet PC’s are the hundreds of iterations of Electronic Medical Records(EMR) that are too complicated and not easy to use.  The User Interface and workflow on the EMR software is certainly functional, but not fun to use.  One would think an EMR program that has the Apple touch would be significantly more aesthetically pleasing, easy to use, and functional at the same time.  All qualities Apple is famous for.

I doubt Apple is going to be designing these EMR programs, but at the same time, we’ve seen how controlling Apple is about software running on its devices (think App Store).  I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple leveraged their hardware to force EMR companies to design better software in tune with Apple’s core principals. Surprisingly, Apple’s desire for control might actually help with the progression of electronic medical records. In the upcoming weeks this is a topic we’ll discuss in detail to a greater length.

Rumors of an Apple tablet have been all over the place during the past few weeks. Although Apple is notorious for pulling off clandestine product launches, the consensus appears to be that Apple will launch a tablet early next year. With the $19 billion dollars from the stimulus package set aside exclusively for electronic medical records, it would make business sense for Apple to venture into making tablets that can be used for electronic medical records. So then hypothetically, if we get an Apple tablet in 2010, will it really be used by the healthcare world? Everyone seems to be talking about how great an Apple tablet would be for the medical community, but few are talking about if it would actually be used.

In almost every keynote related to the iPhone, Apple has embraced the medical community and set aside time to show how its platform can be used in healthcare. The same can’t be said for other mobile technologies, such as Windows Mobile and the current reincarnation of Palm. Palm was a leader in portable medical technology and their old PDA’s continue to be used by healthcare providers. Their fall in the medical tech world can largely be attributed to their history of lackluster phones. The current Palm-Pre, a beautiful device, leaves much to be desired from when it comes to medical technology. There was a recent study stating six out of ten doctors prefer iPhones. Although this wasn’t a super-scientific survey, we’ve all seen a huge increase in the doctors and providers using the iPhone in the clinic.

This preference for the iPhone is largely due to it’s beautiful UI and ease of use. I’ve had plenty of colleagues pick up my iPhone and intuitively use the medical applications I have. Quite literally, the iPhone makes the medical technology experience fun again. This experience isn’t exclusive to the iPhone, but also with the iPod Touch. Both devices are great to hold and look at, but it’s not the hardware that makes the device exciting, it’s the software. This experience gives the iPhone a great brand name in the medical community, even to those who don’t use the phone.

I think the brand name and the fun experience the current iPhone operating system provides will be the key to the tablet’s success. Using electronic medical records definitely saves me time, but the different platforms I’ve used can be cumbersome and sometimes I feel like I’m using a program developed for Windows 3.0. Overall, it’s an efficient experience, but not a fun one. Can you imagine selling a electronic medical record to a physician who has exclusively used Windows operating systems? If they don’t like change, as many physicians are notorious for, this would be a difficult task. In the medical community the iPhone is associated with fun and innovation, two things that will get physicians like the one I mentioned excited about change. The iPhone’s Operating System has bridged the gap between PC and Apple, and it’s going to be interesting to see how the tablet will be used once the stimulus money really gets rolling in 2010. I’ll venture to guess the tablet will actually help with the implementation of electronic medical records because of the excitement it’ll bring.