In my case, that would be a stylish color-enabled e-reader, that allows me to run Papers (from mekentosj.com). Include some rich media content (if not Flash-powered ) and I’d be happy.

Of course it won’t be the best web browsing experience, but at least decent enough to check some websites from your lap. It won’t replace a regular computer, whether it’s running Mac OS X or something else. But hey, marketing is a game as well, isn’t it.

I’d like to have one, and if the screen seems nice and large enough, I’ll buy one. Just a WiFi version, no need for 3G on my e-reader.

So it’s just what you expect from the device, I think…

Blogged about this topic on:
http://blog.digitalneurosurgeon.com/?p=646

Best regards,

Pieter Kubben, MD
Dept of Neurosurgery
Maastricht University Medical Center
The Netherlands

The choice of screen was especially disappointing. A glossy, back-lit screen makes a lousy e-reader. I was really hopeful that the rumors surrounding Pixel Qi and the iPad were true. Google “notion ink” to get an idea of what advantages a Pixel Qi screen brings to a tablet.

It’s quite obvious though why Apple did not go with a transfelctive/reflective screen (ala Pixel Qi). Despite the increase in readability and battery life, such screens suffer a bit in the vibrancy of their colors. Sacrificing such would be against Apple’s sensibilities that puts aesthetics first over usability (how many useless one button mice to long-term apple users have stashed in their basements? I have at least 3).

The good news is that the newer transflective/reflective screens should be able to be any size for not too much more than a traditional LCD (though pixel qi is only producing 10.1 screens at this time). The first company that produces a polished tablet with a 13.3″ (widescreen) pixel qi (or similar) screen should sell exceptionally well amongst the professional crowd. At that size you will be able to read PDF’s at near real-world size (you’ll have to cut off a bit of the left/right margins to display A4 paper at a 1:1 ratio), which would be totally awesome for anyone who needs to read journal articles on a regular basis. I’d buy 2 right off the bat (one for me and one for the wife).

Here’s your points
No Flash – just not important. Health care will be run through custom iPad apps, not the browser. There is no reason whatsoever to try to use the browser. The entire strength of the iPad platform for vertical integration is that you can write efficient apps that talk to whatever web resources you need, providing a beautiful and intuitive interface that is far more efficient than you could provide in a web browser. Flash is irrelevant here.

No camera – maybe would be nice in some specific applications, but for the vast majority of what we do it wouldn’t be neccessary. Do you see doctors and nurses running around with digital cameras shooting pictures of stuff? Neither do I. This is a nice thing, but in no way would be a core functionality in medicine. This will be added over time anyway.

Separate data plan – again wouldn’t matter. Used in hospitals these will always have WiFi access anyway. I suspect that all units used in healthcare will be WiFi only, except maybe personal MD units that would allow access on the go. But even then, its unlikely that the doctor would need access when they weren’t in their home/office/hospital, so even then its hardly necessary. The form factor of the iPad is such that it will predominantly be used under one roof or another, in range of a WiFi signal.

No mouse – isn’t this an advantage. Correctly designed apps in this framework don’t require a mouse. One of the problems with current EMR apps is that they have so many controls. A correctly designed EMR will be way more intuitive and require far fewer controls. A more Apple-like EMR that is.

Durability – time will tell here. Maybe that’s a problem, we’ll see. Battery – 10 hours is a lot of time given that these things will be docked a lot. I’m sure there will be a third party case that will address both durability issues and battery life anyway.

Personally, I think the iPad will be completely revoulationary. The ability to use the iPhone SDK to create intuitive software that can really be used in a vertical environment is groundbreaking. It will be absolutely incredible. Developers that don’t see that will be left in the dust, in my opinion.

Nicholas Fogelson, MD
http://www.academicobgyn.com