I was a skeptic about all the iPad+Healthcare hype. But my skepticism is waning.
When the iPad 2 was released, I braced myself for the deluge of bloggers and tweeters who would find some connection between iPad 2 and healthcare. The deluge was significant. And much of what was discussed was at best hyperbole and at worst search engine baiting. What was worse was the number of iPad+Healthcare+Marketing posts I saw. Frankly, the only connection I envisioned between the iPad and health care marketing was another shiny device to give away at trade shows.
But now that the hype is waning, my skepticism is waning, too. There are still reasons to look at the iPad with a wary eye, but also plenty of reasons to be open to the possibility that the iPad—and iOS—might just be the biggest thing to happen to eHealth/Health IT since ARRA.
iPad has blown open the tablet market. Tablets have been around for years, but not until iPad have they gone mainstream. I remember when Microsoft came out with its Windows XP Tablet PC edition. There was much talk then about its uses for health care. But reality never lived up to the hype. Now, while doctors and hospitals aren’t necessarily beating down Apple Store doors to purchase iPads, their adoption rate is pretty good for being around just a year.
Docs want devices that are easy to use. One of the terrific things about the iPad is its ease of use. Millions of iPads have already sold. My 60-something neighbor can’t live without hers. My 30-something wife—who is a bit of a technology dunderhead (sorry, sweetie, but you know I’m right)—had to have one. She uses hers every day. Doctors, many of whom are technophobes, are only reporting minor usability troubles with the iPad. If any device could grease the skids for greater EMR use, it’s the iPad.
iPad is task-based, not software-based. As a group, doctors are the busiest multi-taskers on the planet. Wouldn’t it be great if they could have some program at their fingertips that will help them do just that one thing? With Windows slapped on a tablet, that’s a completely foreign concept. But with the iOS, it’s happening already.
Now, there are certainly other devices out there that do the same things. But iPads and the iOS are the market and the adoption leaders. If one tablet device can be pointed to as leading the revolution, it’s the iPad.
So marketers, why should the iPad mean more to you than a trade show giveaway? More on that tomorrow.
Photo credit: Robert Scoble (cc)
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