I keep reading about the latest iPhone app that’s going to revolutionise healthcare, it might be for medication reminders or brain scanning or whatever.
But I think it’s all media hype. And it’s not just healthcare it’s everywhere, iphone this, iphone that.
But it’s not real yet. All these apps are small scale with limited reach, they target a specific health condition so ultimately are only accessible to those with the health condition, with an iPhone.
How’s that going to revolutionise healthcare?
The future points toward larger screens of blackberry, iPhone, etc. But they’re still expensive compared to normal phones and their penetration levels low.
I recently read that the proportion of iphone ownership around the globe is equivalent to the population of Poland, so if Poland’s your market then go for it.
The challenge with mobile healthcare (and no doubt other industry areas) is to find solutions that are accessible to all. Not just young ones with cool new phones but old ones who are new to phones, the visually impaired who can’t read lovely smooth screens, the ones who can’t afford Apple’s price tag, and those not in reach of a 3G networks.
I noticed Philips new TV ad on Sky for their home care device recently. In home patient care is the way forward and mobile will clearly have a big part to play. But simplicity will be the key. New technology, and the associated devices, can create their own anxiety, couple that with the anxiety of dealing with an illness and then the patient solution must be simple and ideally familiar to the patient. This is where the mobile phone will win, if supported by the right applications.