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Hospital calculates return on iPad investment at nine days
If you've been around the medical profession, you have probably seen an explosion of iPads. Doctors I've talked to say they are easy to carry around, and the iPad mini in particular seems a great fit for pockets. Meanwhile, companies that write software for medical uses are quickly creating apps that are iPad-friendly. Meanwhile, Forbes writer Dan Munro has an interesting piece telling the story of a hospital that deployed iPads and saw a return on investment in nine days. The numbers were based on time and motion studies and how clinical workflow impacted labor costs. That pretty much makes an iPad a no-brainer. With healthcare costs soaring and hospitals looking to cut costs, the iPad is making a difference. To have case-management information or drug-interaction data within a few inches of a medical professional moving around a facility is a quiet revolution. The Forbes article isn't specific about the hospital or the uses the iPads were put to, but a lot of iPads are in use in the medical field. The hospital in question is rolling out more iPads, anxious to see more savings. Apple itself has featured medical facilities and companies using iPads and the business case can be compelling. Apple was lucky to see this trend early and take advantage of it. Meanwhile, Microsoft is struggling with tablets that have been slow to catch on.
iPad adoption increasing among corporations
The iPad is rapidly moving beyond its role as consumer device and infiltrating the enterprise. A new survey conducted by BoxTone Mobile Service Management indicates that three-quarters of corporations will deploy the Apple tablet in the next year. Twenty-five percent are deploying the slates already. IT professionals and executives at 800 companies were interviewed for the survey. The combination of the iPad's hardware execution with its highly readable capacitive touchscreen, which doesn't require a stylus, enables a more natural and intuitive user interface than previous attempts at tablet computers. Just as it did with the original iPod, Apple has kept the system deliberately limited and focused rather than trying to stuff every possible piece of functionality into it. While this frustrates some of the geekier folks among us, it helps to ensure that the parts that are included work better. On top of this portable, wireless platform, Apple has created a highly touch optimized interface that allows software developers to produce applications that enable smoother interactivity and collaboration. Survey respondents also cited the new management features in the imminent iOS 4.2 release that allow for improved enterprise security. All of this allows staff to work amongst themselves and with customers to see new possibilities in the information. Of course, all of this depends on developers coming up with excellent software. By all accounts, Apple has provided an excellent development platform and tools for doing this even if its approval policies for distribution have been a bit wonky. The end result seems to be that IT departments are more willing to allow this new device into their ecosystems than any previous consumer oriented platform.
Debunk: 'camera' reference in iPad configuration policy is likely a copy-paste error, not evidence of new iPad
Look, we don't doubt for a second that Apple's working on an iPad with a front-facing camera to support FaceTime. That's the obvious next step in Apple's relentless, iterative product-refresh cycle that keeps the money rolling in. But a story loose on the interwebs claiming "evidence" of Apple's intent is likely bunk, having more to do with a copy and paste error made by a low-level tech writer than Apple inadvertently revealing plans for the next generation iPad. As the story goes, Apple tipped its hand by adding a bullet to its "iPad in Business" deployment overview document describing the ability to restrict the iPad's non-existent camera via Exchange policy or configuration profiles. Thing is, the text is a word-for-word copy of the existing "iPhone in Business" document as shown in the image above. Move along folks, nothing to see here... literally, Apple already removed the camera bullet from the iPad document.
