iPad Sightings in the Wild

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Now that the flurry of speculation is over, people, companies and organizations are really starting to get their collective minds around this cool new piece of technology and how it will work into their daily lives. Stephen Colbert gave us a good example as he performed the hosting duties at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards where the music industry congratulates itself. Colbert, the wildly popular comedic host of the Colbert Report, expertly whipped out an iPad from inside his tux jacket to read the nominees for an award. Jokes aside, the oversized iPod Touch looked awesome and performed well, the screen orienting itself as he waved it in the air. Right then millions of people started thinking hmmm…that’s pretty slick! I could use one of those things and look cool doing it! Even though Colbert’s own daughter didn’t seem to think so, every tween/teen I know would give their eye teeth for an iPad!

One of the places where technology is used hands on every day is in hospitals. The Sacramento Bee is reporting that hospital administrations are eagerly eyeing up the iPad. People like Dr. Javeed Siddiqui, associate medical director for the Center for Health and Technology at UC Davis Medical Center, told the Bee he’s excited by the potential the iPad offers for the medical industry. “It’s portable and it’s lightweight,” he said. “It has touch screen, a Web browser — and all those features can be utilized as a way to integrate technology in patient care.” The real potential for the iPad in the medical field will lie in the ability to write custom applications for the hardware. In addition to a number of bundled applications the iPad will have access to Apple’s App Store, which now offers more than 140,000 different options.

Mobihealthnews is reporting 10 takes on the iPad, some glowing, others not so positive. Some are bemoaning the lack of a stylus for writing, others say it is just too cumbersome in the small spaces devoted to doctors in operating rooms and care beds. The fact that it is not splash proof may be a problem where cleanliness is of the utmost importance. Obviously case makers will have a field day with the iPad, dreaming up ruggedized and waterproof fixes. These issues aside, the fact that the iPad provides a new reasonably-sized platform for software (app) development is gaining traction with the medical community and generating hope that the iPad will prove to be a very useful tool going forward. Technological advances in our medical infrastructure will be needed to keep up with the increasing needs of our aging population. Not the least of which is an device that you don’t need a magnifying glass to use!

This is an iPad Sighting article by The App Machine.